Don't Leave Me
by CommanderValeria
Summary: Lucy was a new member of the Order when she met Sirius. They quickly started a relationship but then he was killed. Now he's back and she's teaching at Hogwarts. How will she deal with the fear that the man she loves will suddenly disappear?
1. Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

1. This is a co-story set in the same universe as animalwriter's "The Serpents' Kiss". Right now I think they can each stand on their own as separate stories, but I'd recommend reading both as later on there might be situations mentioned in one story that are fully explained in the other.

2. We have "revived" the majority of the characters who passed away in the Battle of Hogwarts in "The Deathly Hallows." In our attempt to keep as cannon as possible with J.K.R's rule that the dead cannot be brought back to life, we've explained it as certain "old magic" prevented those who had some kind of "unfinished business" from fully dying, and so they were not actually "dead", just sort of "sleeping" until they were able to be revived. My story does attempt to give an explanation of this but if you prefer to look at this as an alternate universe story, go ahead I won't be offended. Thanks and I hope you enjoy one or both stories.

* * *

Chapter 1

The battle was over.

The dead were laid out in the great hall. The wounded taken to the hospital wing. Voldemort had been killed. And this time he was not coming back. Still, she was not satisfied. She couldn't even say it was a bittersweet moment.

Tonight she had lost a friend from school days, a friend she had recently met but had become close to, a former teacher, and a cousin. About a year ago Dumbledore had been killed, a man looked up to and beloved by many, including her. No longer would she see Mad-Eye Moody clunking down the halls of the Order's headquarters. Worst of all though, was a death that had happened not long after she had joined the Order.

"Lucy?" a hand touched her shoulder. Lucy turned to see a favorite professor of hers. One who was generally stoic, but who cared very deeply about all her students.

"Professor McGonagall?" It was only the two of them in the great hall. Beds had been found for everyone who was still at the school.

"You should get some rest. I've had them make up a bed for you with the Weasley's in Gryffindor Tower. You're aunt and uncle would be glad for the company I'm sure."

Lucy shook her head, "No. I want to stay here. Stay with them. I'm not tired and they shouldn't be left alone. Please, you go to bed. I'll be fine."

"All right," Professor McGonagall said reluctantly, "but be sure to call someone if you need help."

"Help with what?" Lucy asked with a trace of bitterness in her voice, "It's not as if they're going to go anywhere."

"Just the same," she said, closing the large doors.

Alone. Standing vigil over the dead. Thinking of him. She shouldn't be thinking of him. He'd been gone almost two years now. She shouldn't still be this upset by his death. It wasn't as if they were anything to each other. A few flirtations the handful of times she'd been to 12 Grimmauld Place wasn't something to warrant such heartache. Still…he had said, the last time they saw each other that when this was over he wanted to talk. About them.

Trying to avoid thinking about him Lucy began pacing the room. The hours passed slowly. Above her head the ceiling was no longer enchanted. There was no night sky reflected in the rafters. A pink light was just beginning to shine through the windows when Lucy sat in one of the chairs littered around the room. Her head bobbed as she fought sleep.

"Oy!" Lucy watched in disbelief as one of the dead seemed to sit up. She must be dreaming. "What happened? Last I remember Percy was making a joke. That can't be right. I must have been hit over the head."

Lucy sat up straight in her chair, heart pumping, wide awake. She had to be dreaming. People just didn't come back from the dead! How many times had she heard Dumbledore say no spell could bring back the dead or something similar? Then the figure began to stand. "Wait! No! Don't…! Just stay there!" Lucy yelled, not sure why she was doing so.

"Lu? That you?"

"Yes. I need to…um…you need. I'll be right back," Lucy managed to say. "Don't move Fred." Lucy rushed down the halls to Professor McGonagall's room, trying to find a logical explanation for what she just saw. By the time she had reached the door to McGonagall's rooms she was convinced there was none. She wasn't dreaming, insane, or drunk. Nor did she think her lack of sleep had caused her to begin seeing things, after all no one else was alive again. She was sure Fred had been dead when he was brought in to lie with the others and no spell or incantation she knew could bring back the dead.

Lucy banged on the door as hard as she could, making sure she was heard, "Professor! Professor, I need to see you right now!"

"Miss Ketteridge what _are_ you yelling about?"

"Fred. He's….he's sitting up and talking!"

"That is simply not possible. You must need some sleep."

"Believe me, as a former Ravenclaw I know this isn't at all logical but it's what I saw! Would you at least come look? Please, before he starts wandering around!"

"You're serious aren't you?"

"Yes!" The pair started running back along the route that Lucy had just come. When they entered the great hall Lucy was stunned to see that Fred up and walking around when she had specifically told him not to move.

As Professor McGonagall hurried towards Fred another voice could be heard. "I'm not dead? I should be dead. I'm sure I remember being killed."

Lucy's eyes got bigger as she whispered, "Tonks," to her companions.

"This is not acceptable!" McGonagall told the room.

Lucy threw her hands up into the air, "I don't know what to tell you. I'm just glad I'm not the only one who sees this."

"The dead can not come back to life!" she said as if trying to reassure herself of this fact.

"Are you sure I was dead? I don't think I was. Seems like something I'd remember," Fred threw into the conversation.

"Quite sure," Lucy said as calm as she could. "George saw you crushed by a wall and Madam Pomfrey checked you when you were brought down. Besides Tonks remembers being killed."

"Lu?" Tonks called from the place she had woken up. "What's wrong with Remus?"

"He's dead," McGonagall told her flatly.

"Dead!"

"I wouldn't worry too much Tonks," Lucy told her, "The way this night's been going he'll be up and about in less than an hour."

* * *

As it turned out she was only partially right. It was a couple more hours before Remus Lupin was up and walking around with his wife and Fred. By this time the Weasleys and Andromeda Tonks had been informed of what had happened and word was quickly spreading throughout those staying at the school.

After seeing three people come back from the dead with her own eyes, Lucy thought there wasn't much else that could shock her. She wasn't the only one whose jaw hit the floor when one of the most feared professors at Hogwarts walked through the doors. She shook her head, knowing that the vision wouldn't disappear. Professor Severus Snape had returned to Hogwarts. "What is going on here?" he addressed McGonagall.

"We're not entirely sure Severus."

Lucy edged away from the pair, and the heated argument that was beginning, as she saw Harry Potter rushing up to them. Her situation did not improve though. Mrs. Weasley soon broke away from fussing over Fred and tried pushing Lucy into a chair.

"Please, dear. You should get some rest...been awake all this time."

Lucy sat, because she was tired of standing, not because she wanted to sleep. "No, Aunt Molly, really I'm okay. I can't sleep. This isn't over yet. I can feel it…" she trailed off.

"You don't think you're bringing them back do you?"

"No, no I'd be foolish to believe that. I just need to see this thing to its conclusion." She knew Molly had been worried about her for longer than just the last couple days. After she had left Hogwarts and her Father hadn't made any attempts to communicate with her, the Burrow had become almost a second home. Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur a second set of parents, though in truth Molly had been acting like her mother ever since Lucy's mother and Molly's sister, Jennifer had been killed during Voldemort's first reign.

Lucy knew Molly had seen what had been happening between her and Sirius. She wasn't sure Mrs. Weasley had been too happy about it, but she hadn't said anything about it until after he had gone. She'd changed, or so Aunt Molly told her. All the joy of life she'd had had gone. She wasn't really living anymore; she was just sort of …there. Now Lucy feared Molly knew what she was waiting for and urging her not to hope for the impossible. But the impossible had already happened four times in less than a day. Who said it couldn't happen one more time?

* * *

By late afternoon Lucy was beginning to think her instincts had been wrong. No one else had come back and it was getting harder to keep her eyes open. Much longer and she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep Mrs. Weasley from actually carrying her to bed.

The main doors opened again, but they had been doing that all day. The action didn't attract Lucy's attention until all the conversations in the room had stopped and everyone's head turned toward the front of the room. When she turned to look at what everyone was seeing, she found herself looking at an old man with a long white beard and hair. His eyes crinkled as he smiled at the people gathered. It was almost as if he considered them all his children. "Dumbledore!" someone shouted.

He nodded and the crowed started cheering; some were clapping, some crying. Dumbledore waded through the crowd, stopping to talk to people as he passed by, but Lucy thought he looked distracted, as if he were searching for someone in particular. When he stopped to talk to Harry, Ron, and Hermione she thought he'd found the people he'd been looking for. It wasn't long though, before the trio led Dumbledore to where Lucy was sitting.

"Ah, Miss Ketteridge. I understand you were the one who first noticed what was happening."

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore." Lucy whispered.

"I think we should discuss this in my office."

"Yes, sir," she continued to whisper, fearing she was somehow in trouble for what had happened. She rose to follow him to the headmaster's office. Lucy stumbled half way to the doors and was held up by her old headmaster.

"Alright, Miss Ketteridge?"

"Yes, sir."

They reached the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the headmaster's office. Lucy briefly wondered what was going to happen as Dumbledore _hadn't _been the last headmaster of Hogwarts. Now, both Dumbledore and Snape were back…

She needn't have worried though, at Dumbledore's quietly spoken word the gargoyle leapt aside and they stepped onto the spiral staircase to ride it up to the doors of the office. When they entered the office the paintings of the old headmasters and headmistress' made nearly as much commotion about Dumbledore's return as the people in the Great Hall. Dumbledore quieted the paintings while drawing up a chair in front of his desk. Lucy looked up and noticed both the portraits of Dumbledore and Snape were there, but still, like a Muggle portrait.

"Please, Miss Ketteridge, have a seat."

Lucy sat and looked up at her old headmaster, "Professor, what is going on?"

Dumbledore sat in his old chair and steepled his fingers before replying, "It seems that you have managed to do something that is only heard of in legends."

"I did this?"

"In a way. Yes."

"How?" she asked, confused.

"I shall explain as best I can. You see, what I think has happened here occurred because of a very old type of magic. According to legend there is a sort of protective magic that surrounds those killed by evil means and prevents them from being completely dead. They may appear dead and can even be buried without any decay occurring, but they are not actually dead."

"But how did everyone become…revived?" Lucy asked.

"That takes a number of different occurrences. Possibly the most important among those is a momentous event, in this case Voldemort being well and truly killed. Another would be that those the magic surrounds must have what legend terms a 'higher calling'. The last part is where you come in. In all the stories I have read where this happens, it always happens when a truly grieving person stands a night's vigil over some of the more recently dead."

"How do you know who has a higher calling and who doesn't?"

"You don't, or at least it's not always obvious. After all it's not hard to think of a reason Remus and Tonks might have a higher calling, but can you think of one for Professor Snape?"

Lucy shook her head.

"I trust Severus completely, but as I said it's not clear what his higher calling may be. We can only assume that he has one. Perhaps, in time it will reveal itself. Perhaps not. Those of us who do not put much stock in divinations may never know."

"How much longer do you think this will go on?"

"I'm afraid I have no idea. But I think it would be interesting to note the order in which everyone has been coming back."

Lucy thought for a moment. She hadn't been witness to all of the 'deaths' but maybe… "In reverse order of when they were killed?"

"So it would seem. I would not give up hope yet. This magic has not quite finished with us and after all, it is a long way from London." There was a sparkle in the old wizard's eyes, as if he had read Lucy's mind. Perhaps he had.

* * *

When the time came for everyone to go to bed, Lucy, once again refused. She knew McGonagall didn't like it and it made Mrs. Weasley worry, but there _had_ to be just one more miracle left and she was determined not to miss it.

She wandered the halls and avoided Peeves before sitting down on the landing in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. She didn't think it would be wise to continue walking up the stairs when her legs simply refused to work right. If she just closed her eyes for a minute or two she'd be fine to start wandering the halls again. After all she couldn't miss much in just a minute. A short nap was all she needed…

* * *

"No, I am not letting you in there! That child needs her sleep!"

"She's hardly a child. I just want to see her Molly, see for myself she's okay."

"No! She is not okay and she hasn't _been_ okay and it's all _your_ fault!"

"How is it my fault? I didn't do it on purpose!"

"You got emotionally involved with her! She is too young for that!"

"She's the same age as Tonks. I promise I won't wake her up. I just want to see her."

"Molly," said a different, more authoritative voice, "let him through."

A door scraped open and the edge of the bed where Lucy lay dipped low as extra weight was added to it. A gentle hand pushed some hair out of her face and she heard a sigh. She had thought she was dreaming up until the hand touched her face. She had to be dreaming. She had just closed her eyes a minute ago, but she had never had tactile dreams before.

"Ah, Lucy. You are alive and well after all." The hand stroked her face again.

Lucy realized she wasn't asleep when she registered just how tired she was and how badly she needed to use the restroom. She didn't want to open her eyes, afraid that when she did the owner of the hand would no longer be in the room. She'd had dreams before where he'd disappear when she woke up and she wasn't sure how well she would deal with it this time.

She rolled onto her back and lifted her eyelids. Her brain couldn't quite register what her eyes were seeing in front of her. She didn't think she was dreaming anymore. After all, if she were dreaming about him, she probably wouldn't be seeing Aunt Molly peering through the crack of the partially open door. "Sirius?" she whispered.

He smiled and nodded.

"Sirius!" Lucy bolted upright. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. "You have _no_ idea…"she whispered, tears threatening.

One of his hands tangled in her hair, the other stroked her back. "Oh, I think I have some idea. I've been talking with Harry, the Weasleys, Hermione, Dumbledore, Remus, Tonks. The whole Order, or what's left of it anyway." He pulled back a little and looked into her light brown eyes, "Perhaps I should leave. I did promise not to wake you." His head tilted towards the door where Mrs. Weasley's face zipped out of sight.

Lucy held on tighter, "No, I'm not ready to let you go just yet. I'll lay down again if you stay. You probably need your rest too."

His eyes crinkled with laughter, "I've been more or less dead for the last two years. I think I'm all caught up on sleep."

"Too bad. Stay anyway."

Sirius loosened her grip on him and climbed over her to lie next to her on the bed. "Okay, you've convinced me."

Lucy lay back down, curled up next to Sirius, her need to use the restroom forgotten. As her eyes were closing she asked, "You'll be here when I wake up?"

"I'll be right here. Don't worry."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

This time Lucy did dream, but these dreams were not the kind she would be telling Ginny or Hermione about. Maybe Tonks, but Tonks was married with a child. She woke up thoroughly rested, completely satisfied, and blushing when she looked up at Sirius.

"Good dreams?"

Lucy groaned and covered her face with her hands.

He chuckled, "You've nothing to worry about. Your virtue's completely intact. Molly was rushing in here at every little sound you made to check on us."

"Oh, good." Lucy squeaked. She peeked at Sirius through her fingers, "Was I really that noisy?"

He cleared his throat, "Um, well…"

"I'm never leaving this room again. I don't care how full my bladder is. I'm just not leaving."

"If it helps at all, it was only my name that came up."

"Just your name?" Lucy said, feeling something distinctly male resting against her.

It was Sirius's turn to blush, "You'd best get up. It's after noon, we've missed lunch, and you, as you've said, have a full bladder. There hasn't been anyone out in the common room for hours. No one besides Molly and Arthur anyway. Molly to keep an eye on us and Arthur to keep an eye on Molly. It'd be best if you went out alone I think. Molly would not be too pleased to see me…like this."

"What common room?" Lucy hadn't been very sure of where she was but now she thought she must be in one of the house dormitories.

"We're in Gryffindor tower. Notice all the red and gold?"

"Oh." Lucy said.

"Now get going before Molly comes back in here."

Lucy rose from the bed, dressed in what she had been wearing for the last few days and edged towards the door.

"Ah, Lucy. All rested?" Uncle Arthur asked her when she entered the common room.

"Um, yes," Lucy looked around the room and saw only Arthur. "Where's Aunt Molly?"

"Oh, I convinced her I was more then capable of looking after you alone so she could go do something more productive. Such as fuss over Fred."

Uncle Arthur not mentioning anything he may or may not have heard while she slept helped Lucy to not feel so self conscious. "Ah, thanks. I'll be back I just have to nip down to the restroom."

"All right then. I'd avoid the one on the third floor. Always lots of people hanging around there." He went back to reading the paper he'd been looking over when Lucy first emerged from the bedroom.

Lucy climbed through the portrait hole and nearly knocked Ginny down the stairs. "Oh, sorry Ginny. I'm sort of in a hurry."

"That's okay. Mum just sent me up to check on you since Dad's forbidden her from entering the common room until dark."

Lucy started hurrying towards one of the upper level bathrooms, Ginny following. "I suppose Aunt Molly told you to follow me around too?"

Ginny laughed and shook her head, "No, she's not that over protective. I just thought you might like someone to talk to. It's been a busy couple of days. I know you and Tonks are pretty close, but she's off with Lupin and Teddy. Anyway, I just thought I'd offer."

Lucy smiled, "Thanks. Right now though I need to find a restroom and," she pulled her robes slightly away from her body, "perhaps a change of robes."

"No problem," Ginny started to go back to wherever she had come from, but turned back for a moment, "Oh, before I forget. Dumbledore's said there's going to be a celebratory dinner in the Great Hall tonight. It's the last dinner before everyone goes home for summer break."

"I'll be there," Lucy assured her cousin. It was odd to think that all this had happened and Hogwarts hadn't even let out for the summer yet. Of course classes hadn't been in session since the battle and there was no point in the students staying longer then necessary.

After using the restroom, Lucy started to make her way back to Gryffindor Tower. Turning down one corridor she saw a slight, blonde haired girl, with a faraway look in her eyes, carrying what looked like a set of Ravenclaw robes.

"Um, hello," Lucy greeted the girl. "Is everything all right? Do you need help with something?"

"Oh, no," the girl shook her head, "I haven't seen any gnargals about for ages and while I do get the occasional wrackspurt they're easily taken care of."

"Oh, all right." Lucy said. She had no idea what the girl was talking about.

"I thought you might like these," the girl held out the robes she carried, "I had an extra set and Ginny said you might need a change of robes."

"Ginny? Oh, you must be Luna. I'm Lucy. Ginny says nice things about you."

Luna nodded, "She's very nice." With the conversation apparently over Luna wandered away talking to herself about a crumple horned something or other.

Lucy eventually found her way back to the portrait of the Fat Lady and stood in front of it. She realized she had no way of getting back inside, no one had told her the password.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked.

"Um, I don't know it. No one told me the password. I'm not even a student. I mean I was a student but that was a few years ago. You wouldn't remember me anyway. I wasn't in Gryffindor…"

"No password, no entry. Even if you are a former non-Gryffindor student."

"But my Uncle Arthur's in there. At least I assume he still is and I'm sure Sirius is still in there. Unless he went to go look for Harry, but I think he would have left a note or something."

"Sirius? You don't mean Sirius Black?" the Fat Lady shrieked.

"Yes. You let him in yesterday or maybe it was early this morning. You must have noticed."

The portrait swung open, the Fat Lady yelling, "Get. Him. Out!"

"Um, okay," Lucy climbed through the entrance before the Fat Lady could change her mind. A quick look around the common room told her that Mr. Weasley had indeed left the Tower and someone, probably Sirius, had left a note.

The note told her only what she had already thought. Sirius had gone to spend time with Harry. She shouldn't be jealous, really she shouldn't, but she was. Trying to keep from being irrational, Lucy headed up to one of the girl's dormitories and changed into her borrowed robes. They were a both a bit too short and a bit too tight, but they would do for now.

Lucy left Gryffindor Tower and began to see signs of people cleaning up the parts of Hogwarts that had been damaged. She wasn't sure if the library had received any damage during the battle but she made her way there to see if it had. The library had been one of her favorite parts of the old school, though more often then not she had been checking out fiction rather than books to study from. She had been one of those kids who didn't need to study much in order to receive top marks, so she had spent a great deal of her spare time reading.

The library didn't appear to have been damaged but Lucy walked up and down the aisles to be sure, her fingers tracing the familiar path of smooth, old book spines. Arriving in the seldom used section reserved for works of fiction, she pulled _Arthur and I_ from the shelves. It was a story written by a wizard some 300 years after the time when King Arthur was thought to have died.

Before she knew it Lucy had read 50 pages of the story and someone was gently tapping her shoulder. She looked up to see Dumbledore standing next to her.

He pulled out a chair and sat before saying, "Professor Flitwick thought I might find you here."

"You were looking for me, sir?"

"Mmhmm and Philius said he remembered you spending a lot of time in here, _not _studying."

Lucy smiled, "I didn't do so bad for not studying much. I was one of those kids who didn't need to study a lot. Besides I find fiction more interesting than school books."

"I was wondering, what did you find yourself doing after you finished Hogwarts?"

"I joined the Order."

Dumbledore gave an indulgent smile, "That wasn't until nearly five years after you left the school. You must have intended to take up some career before you joined the Order."

"Oh, that. I did take up a career. I started Auror's training with Tonks. We became pretty close when we were here. I finished a little while before she did. She had trouble with stealth, clumsy as she is. I was an Auror for about a year, Kingsley might have told you. I worked with Gawain Robards and Tonks worked with Mad-Eye." Lucy stopped, not want to talk anymore.

"What happened after a year?" Dumbledore prompted.

"Cedric Diggory died. I didn't know him or anything. I mean I knew of him, he was in Tonks's house. You Know…Voldemort came back. You said it and Harry said it. The Ministry's official position on that was that Voldemort wasn't back. You were crazy and Harry was just looking for attention. I didn't know Harry then, but I couldn't figure how anyone who knew you would think you were lying or had lost your mind. Harry didn't seem to have any reason to lie. There wasn't anything to gain by causing mass panic. If he was lying he'd just be making himself look like a fool and no one wants to do that.

"I pushed for the Ministry to take the story seriously but they stuck to their story. It was during that summer that I quit. When they asked me why I told them I couldn't go out there and represent a Ministry whose policies I did not support. They argued that no one could possibly agree with all of the Ministry's policies. I agreed but this was something big enough that I was taking a stand on it. Truthfully I never planned on being an Auror all my life anyway. I went into it because I wanted to do some good, but it didn't look like I was going to get to do that. I felt bad later when I found out people like Uncle Arthur, Kingsley and Tonks did it, but I had to do what I thought was right at the time."

"What did you plan to do instead?"

"I don't know. I joined the Order, and, well you know all about that. If I could get paid to read all the time I'd probably do that. I like discussing things I've read, arguing various points of view, sharing my knowledge. I think I'd enjoy doing a job like that. If it existed that is."

Dumbledore smiled, "There is a job like that. Teaching. As it happens we do have an opening. I'm sure you'd be a very capable professor if you wanted the job."

"Muggle Studies, right? I heard about Professor Burbage," Lucy shook her head, "No, thank you. I don't know enough about Muggles to do that job."

"But you would be interested in teaching?"

Lucy slowly nodded, "I never thought about it before, but if the right opening came along I could be persuaded."

* * *

It was weird. It shouldn't have been. After all it had been a number of years since she'd lived at Hogwarts, but still, not sitting at the Ravenclaw's table was odd. Sitting with the Weasley's at the Gryffindor table gave Lucy a new perspective on the Great Hall. They weren't necessarily supposed to be sitting at their house tables; it was just habit for everyone in the group, except for Tonks and Lucy, to sit at this particular table.

Sirius was sitting on her right. He shifted close enough to her so that their legs were hairsbreadth from touching. In fact, he kept nudging her foot with his. Lucy turned to him to say something when Mrs. Weasley interrupted, "Lucy, dear, what were you planning on doing with your summer?"

"I'm not sure. Kingsley's already tried to recruit me back to being an Auror, but the idea doesn't really appeal to me anymore. I quit for a reason and I don't want to go back," she saw Harry and Ron avoid looking at Mrs. Weasley. Kingsley had confided that both boys had accepted his offer to join the Aurors.

"You're welcome to stay with us. We can put you in Bill's old room," Aunt Molly offered.

"That won't be necessary Molly. She'll be staying with me," Sirius told Molly.

"I'll be what?" They hadn't even had much of any type of conversation, let alone one of significance.

"Oh, I don't think it would appropriate," Aunt Molly said.

"It won't be a problem Molly. The house is big enough. Lucy can have her own floor if she wants it," Sirius informed her.

"What house?" Lucy interrupted. "When you died Harry inherited Grimauld Place. I doubt you retained any house being dead an all."

"Well, Harry and I talked about that. He's decided he has no real need of my home and my money and so he's returned everything to me. I have no desire for Grimauld Place, but living there should be better now that I'm allowed to leave it occasionally. It'll be exponentially better if you're there. The place needs a lot of work but I think we could handle it."

"But…but we're not even dating."

Sirius laughed, "This morning you refused to let me leave your bed and you say we aren't dating."

"But still…"

"We're dating. The kind of flirting we engaged in can't lead to anything but dating."

Lucy smiled, "Good but where's Harry going to stay? He needs a place to live. We can't just put him out on the street like a stray cat."

"He can stay with us if he wants, or Molly and Arthur."

"I plan on getting a place of my own as soon as I can." Harry interjected.

"Ron and I will keep a look out for some place near the Burrow," Ginny promised.

"See there? It's all settled," Sirius told her.

"I suppose I will have to learn to live with your mother then. Are you sure there's nothing that can be done about her?"

"Nothing short of tearing down the wall and I doubt even that could be done."

"Hmm. Perhaps we could move Phineas Nigelus down across from her. They could talk," Lucy laughed at the expressions on everyone's faces.

"I think it would be best if we left Mother covered up."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lucy wiped the sweat from her forehead. It was another hot summer and she had only just managed to get Sirius's face back on the Black family tree. His had been the last face she had tried to restore and it had also been the hardest. She attributed it to how much his mother had hated him. "What do you think?"

Sirius stepped back and nodded, "You did a wonderful job, but it looks nothing like me."

With her hands on her hips, Lucy looked more like Mrs. Weasley than normal, "It most certainly does!" She tilted her head and considered the tiny face on the wall, "Or it would if you gained some weight. They didn't feed you much in Azkaban did they?"

"No, but then I was also dead for two years."

"Don't remind me."

A clanging, followed by a woman's screaming alerted the pair to someone at the front door. Sirius rolled his eyes, "We need to find a way to keep her quiet."

"You go find out who it is. Last time I went past her she informed me she'd rather have a Muggle-born living here than a couple of blood-traitors, even if one of them is her son."

Sirius grabbed her around the waist, "Mother never did know much of anything. I'll get rid of whoever's at the door and we can go upstairs and take a break from all this work."

Lucy shook her head, smiling, "I don't think so. For one thing I'm in a groove now and I'm going to keep working. For another whoever came to the door probably actually wants to see one of us."

"Alright, alright. I'll bring them in here if they insist on seeing us," Sirius departed, shouting at his mother to shut up.

Lucy hugged herself. It was so easy, being with him. Not that they didn't have their disagreements now and then. They did. He preferred to laze about most days; she would rather get some work done. She had always thought relationships were hard work. It was what her father had always told her and judging from her experience with her relatively few, make that two, boyfriends, he had been right. Now, she knew he was wrong. It might not always be this easy, she knew, but they didn't have to work in order to fit together. That had happened without any work at all.

"Lu?" Sirius called after a few moments, "You presentable in there?"

"And why wouldn't I be? Honestly, sometimes it's incredibly hard to believe that you're thirteen years older then me."

"Just wanted to make sure before I brought our guest in," Sirius said, showing Dumbledore into the room.

"Professor Dumbledore! Please have a seat," Lucy gestured to the only sofa free of knick-knacks and other things. "I'm sorry it's such a mess. We've been repairing and redecorating."

"No matter," Dumbledore said, waving away her apologies. "I've come with a proposal for you Miss Ketteridge."

"A proposal?"

"Yes. Ever since our conversation in Hogwarts' library I've been thinking about what you said. Hogwarts doesn't supply those students with a passion for reading with a way to explore that venue in more depth. I know it's rather close to the end of break but I believe that someone with your enthusiasm for the subject is exactly what would be needed to teach the class."

"I'm afraid I don't know anyone like that."

Dumbledore smiled, "I happen to know someone precisely like that. Though I'm not sure I'll be able to lure her away from renovating her boyfriend's home."

Lucy's brow scrunched in puzzlement. "You mean me?" she questioned.

"I mean you," he nodded.

"But-but what about…" Lucy looked over to where Sirius stood.

Dumbledore's gaze followed hers, "Well, Sirius wouldn't be able to come to Hogwarts with you, but there's no reason why he couldn't take a place in Hogsmeade."

"And Elladora?" Lucy worried, watching her grey cat pick its way through the mess on the floor towards Sirius.

"Of course she could come. Students are allowed companions, why not the professors too?"

"All right, I'll do it," she was happier about this turn of events than she might have thought.

"Excellent. I look forward to introducing you to our faculty."

"I don't think that will be necessary. I was taught by most of them."

"Just the same."

* * *

Lucy leaned back against the pillar next to the gates leading into Hogwarts' grounds. She pulled her lips from Sirius's, groaning. "I really need to be going."

"Are you sure?" he asked, moving on to her neck.

"Mmmm, yes."

"So soon? What do you have to do? All of your things are here and put away already, your class room is all set up…"

"I have to attend the Welcome Feast and the sorting of the first years," Lucy said, pulling his face back up to eye-level with hers. "If I don't go soon, the students will be arriving."

"So?" he said, reclaiming her lips.

"They don't need to see their new professor snogging."

Sirius was able to distract her for a few more moments. Until she heard a familiar sounding voice that was. "Is that Sirius?"

Lucy pulled back and looked over his shoulder, seeing her cousin's head poking out the window along with Hermione's.

"It is! And that's Lucy hiding behind him! I think we just caught one of our new professors snogging."

"It's not surprising. They were doing that when we left them in London this morning." Hermione said.

Lucy hid her blushing face in his neck as the carriage carrying Ginny and Hermione went past and entered the grounds. "Now, I _have_ to go. I'm cutting it close as it is," Lucy pulled away and mounted her broom. "I might be able to make it to Hogsmeade this weekend. Probably at least for a couple hours. I'll let you know," she said before taking off.

* * *

She had just enough time to stash her broom and slip into her seat at the faculty's table before all the students, except first years, entered the great hall.

Not being an extremely social person, she was a bit annoyed to find herself sitting next to Professor Slughorn. She'd never met him before; having come to Hogwarts after Snape had been hired as Potions Master. Even so he talked to her as if she were his long lost best friend. His jabbering almost made her miss Ginny entering the hall as head girl this year. Lucy rolled her eyes when she caught Ginny smirking at her predicament.

The room quieted as Professor McGonagall led the first years into the Great Hall. Had she ever been that small? Surely not. For so long now there had been arguments about pure-bloods versus Muggle-borns. Here, entering Hogwarts for the first time, there was no difference. All the students looked up at the enchanted ceiling, altered to look a bit friendlier than the cloudy one outside the building. She remembered that moment well. She had been so worried that she would end up in a house other than Gryffindor, both her parents had been sorted there and it had been assumed she would be as well. She had ended up in Ravenclaw, but couldn't imagine being in any other house. It had been where she belonged.

The first small boy to be sorted was placed in Ravenclaw and Lucy clapped just a little harder than she normally would have. After the first few students were sorted, Slughorn once again began making conversation with her. Lucy sighed, not wanting to be impolite but he was being impolite to others who wanted to watch and to the students being sorted.

Being completely rude, Lucy ignored Slughorn and looked down the table of professors. Many were ones she recognized and had been taught by. All the way at the other end of the table though, was the witch who had accepted the position Lucy had turned down. She wasn't upset about it. Lucy knew she hadn't been at all qualified for the job and Dumbledore had told her that Professor Samson was more then able to properly teach the students Muggle Studies. They hadn't met yet as Lucy had been in Hogsmeade spending some time with Sirius when the other witch had been settling in. The blonde professor looked to be in deep conversation with Hagrid, the groundskeeper and professor of Care of Magical Creatures, and so Lucy turned her attention back to the room at large.

Lucy stopped eating when Dumbledore stood and silenced the hall before walking up to the headmaster's podium for his traditional welcome speech. "Well, at first I would like to say: It is wonderful to be back with all of you again."

She had to resist the urge to cover her ears, so loud was the applause and cheering. She was glad everyone who had come back was there but thinking too hard about that day brought back her doubts of her own sanity. What had happened still didn't quite make sense to her.

Once the hall had quieted down again he continued, "We have had a difficult past year, and a long, difficult battle with Voldemort even throughout the years before then. But we have come back stronger than before, and I believe that this will be a bright new year for us all. That said, I would like to introduce everyone to a few new professors we have starting this year. Unfortunately, our previous professor of Muggle Studies, Professor Charity Burbage, was truly destroyed by the Death Eaters and escaped the revival that many of us were granted. But we believe that we have hired one of the most qualified witches of our time to teach the subject. Please welcome Professor Dinah Samson!"

Lucy clapped as Dinah stood, smiling at the crowd. She looked a bit nervous, but then they were both teaching for the first time and Lucy was feeling the same way. Maybe she would try to meet up with Dinah later and they could try to sooth each other. At some point they could even compare notes on their teaching experiences, perhaps even become friends after awhile.

Once again the applause died down and Professor Samson sat back in her more desirable seat.

"I'm sure you will all make Professor Samson feel welcome," Dumbledore continued, and then his smile widened, "And on an even more positive note, our other professor is not here to replace anyone. We are all lucky to have not lost any more faculty in the battles of the past few years. No, this year we have taken it upon ourselves to add an entirely new class to the Hogwarts repertoire! For those of you that enjoy recreational reading, we have set up a new elective course on wizard literature for your pleasure. Therefore, I would like to introduce you all to our other new faculty member, Professor Lucy Ketteridge."

Lucy stood and smiled at the students, much like Dinah had done before her. She noticed Ginny smiling brightly and clapping as hard as she could at the Gryffindor table. Lucy winked back at the girl; perhaps she could call Ginny to her office later to have a chat. She had gotten used to talking to Sirius before bed and was already dreading not partaking in the ritual.

When the applause died down Lucy sat, grimacing when Slughorn once again began talking to her. She was relieved when Dumbledore dismissed everyone and she could escape the talkative professor.

Rushing to her room and closing the door before Slughorn could follow her, Lucy flopped on her bed. It probably wouldn't be the wisest option to send for Ginny now that Lucy thought about it and besides it was her first night here too, she probably wanted to get settled and hang out with her friends.

After a minute or two Elladora leapt on to the bed and curled up on Lucy's chest. Her fingers absently stroked the cat's fur as she talked to her. Some might think talking to a cat odd but it was better than talking to yourself. "Well, Dora, have you settled in? Met any new friends?" The cat just purred in response. "You probably don't care where we are, just as long as I'm nearby and you can get fed. Though I don't know why I continue to feed you, you cuddle up to Sirius more then you've ever done with me," Lucy murmured, joking.

Dora got up and leapt to the floor, retreating to her favorite hiding place. Under the bed. "Disloyal cat," Lucy said. After a minute or two she heard a scratching at the door. "You get visitors and I don't?" she asked Dora, getting up to open the door.

A large, black dog sat on the other side. When the door was open far enough he walked in as if he had the right to be there. "What are you doing here?" Lucy exclaimed. The dog sat in the middle of the room and she had a sinking feeling about what he was going to do. "Don't you dare! If anyone comes by here I'd rather they find Snuffles in my room and not Sirius Black," she closed her door again and took a seat on the chair. Her head shook in disbelief as Dora came out from under the bed and rubbed against Snuffles.

"Fine! You can stay, but just for tonight. If Dumbledore knew what you were doing…" The dog came over to where she sat and licked her face, "Oh, gross. Dog breath," she said pushing his face away from hers. "I don't even let my boyfriend lick my face."

Snuffles cocked his head and looked at her. He almost seemed to be disagreeing with her.

"Well, I don't!"

After a few minutes Snuffles walked to Lucy's unlocked trunk and lifted the lid with his snout. He stuck his nose on everything before pulling out a nightgown with his teeth.

"Oh, time for bed is it? Alright, I do have a busy day tomorrow," she twirled her hand, "Turn around."

The dog whined his disappointment.

"Yeah, I know it's terrible, just do it." After she changed the pair curled up together to sleep, Dora once again hiding. Lucy was hot and the bed wasn't exactly made for a person and a dog to share, but she fell asleep quickly and with a smile on her face.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next morning Lucy woke up to an empty room. Even Dora had left. At breakfast she was thankful to see that Professor Slughorn wasn't there and she took the empty seat next to Professor McGonagall. "Good morning, Professor."

"Good morning to you as well. You know, Miss Ketteridge as you're no longer a student you don't have to call me Professor. My name is Minerva."

Lucy grinned, "I'll call you Minerva if you call me Lucy."

"Tell me Lucy," Minerva said, putting some eggs on her plate, "do you by chance own a large, black dog in addition to your cat?"

"No, why?"

"Because I saw one running towards the womping willow this morning. None of the other professors own such an animal and it certainly didn't arrive with the students. I suppose I'll have to inform Dumbledore that we have a stray running about the grounds."

"Oh, please don't do that. I told him not to come back."

"So, you do own the animal then?"

"No, I don't own Snuffles. Own is a relative term. One really can't own another creature, especially one capable of higher thought. You can care and provide for them but you don't own another being like you would own a lamp, do you?"

"Hmm perhaps you should talk with Hermione Granger about that. I'm sure she would enjoy discussing that topic with you." The pair sat in silence for a few moments. "He really should register with the Ministry, you know."

Lucy nodded, "I know. I've told him that, but he says he likes the freedom of running around without others knowing who he is. Besides it's not as if I can really argue the point too hard."

"What do you mean by that?"

Lucy realized she had said too much, "Oh, nothing. I should be going; my first students should be arriving soon." She stood and hurried away before Minerva could ask her anymore questions.

* * *

Walking past the Muggle Studies room, Lucy saw Professor Snape sitting in the back of the class. He seemed to be observing Professor Samson teaching. She hoped this was not some new policy she hadn't heard about. Lucy wasn't sure if she'd be able to calmly teach her class with Snape watching her every move, ready to pounce on anything he perceived to be wrong.

Outside her classroom there was a small cluster of fifth years milling around the door. "Please go in and take a seat. We'll be starting in a minute." Following the students inside, she walked up to her desk and sat down to wait a few more moments for any stragglers to arrive. When she was satisfied everyone was seated, Lucy stood and began her first class.

"Welcome to Wizarding Literature. I'm Professor Ketteridge. If all goes well today you may be getting out early. I just want to go over a few basics before assigning your homework and letting you go. First of all I want you to know that I understand that this is your O.W.L. year and this is the class I want you least worried about. That might not make much sense as some professors tend to think that their class is the most important, but honestly this class isn't likely to influence your future careers. Neither does that mean that that gives you permission to slack off in my class. I expect you all to try your best, not everyone can excel at everything they do and I understand that.

"In this class we are going to be reading through two books I've assigned, _Arthur and I_ and the first book of the _Enchanted Encounters_ series by Fifi LaFolle. Both are works of fiction, though the former is historical fiction and thus there are some parts of it that did actually happen. Historical fiction is generally considered to be a work of fiction based on an historical event, person, or time period; in this case it happens to be all three. The latter of the two is completely fiction and is not based on any people, living or dead.

"We will be starting with _Arthur and I_. The reason I've only assigned two books for the year is that I want to take as much time as we need too in order to discuss anything we might wish too. If we happen to get through these two books faster then I have planned I do have another book in mind. I'd like you to read chapter one of _Arthur and I_ for next class. Are there any questions?"

A few of the students leafed through the book, before one raised his hand, "Professor Ketteridge?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you only want us to read chapter one? It's only ten pages."

Lucy smiled and nodded, "Yes, I'm sure. The first chapter might only be ten pages, but it has a lot more content then you might think. It will take you longer to read it than you're imagining and so I suggest you don't leave it until the last minute. Any other questions?" Lucy waited a few moments in case a student needed to gather their courage before asking a question. When no one's hand rose into the air she said, "Now I'd like to hear some of your thoughts on what literature is. What makes one book better than another? Who determines what books are 'bad' and which are 'good'? What makes a book a classic? And who," Lucy said, walking around her desk to stand in front of the students, "determines which books are appropriate to be made available and taught to students of varying ages?"

The class discussed the questions for a little more than an hour, some of the questions had definitive answers, and others had more philosophical ones that reflected the opinions of the person answering. True to her word, Lucy dismissed the class a few minutes early. Following her students out of the room, she saw that Professor Samson's class was exiting as well, just a few doors down. She wondered if it was safe to go introduce herself or if Snape was still lurking around the other professor's classroom.

When she approached the classroom door, Snape stalked out of it, nearly knocking her over. He didn't say anything, just glared at her and he seemed to try and catch her eye. Lucy wasn't sure if he was glaring at her for something she did, if that was just his face, or if it was because he knew about her and Sirius. They hadn't hid their relationship when they were last at Hogwarts or back in the Order days but Lucy didn't think they had been flaunting it either. As far as she knew neither her nor Sirius had had much contact with Snape, so there didn't seem to be any reason for him to be nasty to her.

She shrugged to herself, figuring that there wasn't much she could do about Snape's attitude towards her. It wasn't his business who she was dating, nor did he have the right to be concerned about it. Entering the classroom, Lucy saw Professor Samson tidying the room. She hadn't seen Lucy enter. "Hello?" Lucy said tentatively, not wanting to scare the new professor.

The other professor turned, smiling warmly, "Oh, hello! Professor Ketteridge, right?"

"You can call me Lucy," she said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "I just wanted to introduce myself and see if you needed anything. My class is just a couple doors down and I thought, both of us being new and all, we could band together, maybe become friends," Lucy paused to take a breath. "I'm sorry. I'm babbling. I'm not real good with meeting new people. Kind of ironic since I'm a professor now and I suppose I'll be meeting new people every year, but I-I don't know that's different somehow. I'm going to shut up now before I scare you anymore then I probably already have."

"Umm…okay," Dinah laughed. Well, at least she hadn't run away and hid under her bed. "Don't worry about it. Starting over in a new place is making me kind of jumpy, too. At least you didn't have to teach class with Professor Snape staring at you the whole time."

Lucy laughed, "That's true. I had him when I was a student here though. You get used to the staring after awhile," she considered that for a moment. "He did glare at me when he left though. He has no reason to glare at me. _I_ didn't do anything to him. He just hates my boyfriend and so he glares at me," she said, walking father into the room.

"I'm wondering if he ever does anything but glare at people." Dinah stepped off the stage and met Lucy half way, putting them on equal footing. "It seems I've caught his eye due to some differences in opinion we have on Muggle and wizard societies. Not that I'm complaining. I like a healthy debate. But I admit Professor Snape is proving hard for me to figure out," she laughed, "So why does he hate your boyfriend? Maybe knowing will help me to dig deeper into his mysterious psyche."

Lucy shook her head, sitting at one of the desks. "I wish I knew. The only thing I do know is that something happened during their school days and that it involved Sirius, James Potter, and Remus Lupin, maybe Peter Pettigrew too, it's hard to tell. But I think it's safe to say Sirius hates Snape just as much as Snape hates Sirius."

"Sirius? You don't mean Sirius Black, the Prisoner of Azkaban do you?"

Nodding, Lucy was startled at Dinah's reaction. She had thought everyone knew by now that Sirius hadn't committed those awful crimes and that he wasn't really a madman. "Why, yes I do mean Sirius Black. It was in the papers over the summer. About how he had been falsely accused and imprisoned," she may have sounded a touch defensive but Lucy didn't much care. Sirius wasn't a murderer and she didn't want to feel as if she were being judged for her choice of partner.

"Oh," Dinah said, looking apologetic, "I'm sorry; it was just an automatic reaction. I do remember hearing something about that now, yes. It's just…well, you see I've been a bit far removed from wizarding society for the last few years. I was living as a Muggle and finishing up a Muggle degree. That's why I was chosen for this position. I have experience in both worlds and I did my Muggle research on human interactions in different cultures."

"Oh," Lucy rushed to apologize. She knew better than to jump to conclusions. "I'm sorry too. I've just had to listen to a lot of reactions like yours this summer. Someone even called the authorities, convinced Sirius had kidnapped me and was holding me hostage," Lucy shook her head. "Anyway, I do recall Dumbledore saying that you were well qualified for this position. He didn't say why though. Perhaps I'll sit in on one of your classes sometime, if that's all right with you of course. I've always had a bit of a fascination with Muggles. It's something Uncle Arthur and I share. Though my fascination is more focused on Muggle writers, while Uncle Arthur's is for Muggles in general."

"That would be fine," Dinah replied, then laughed, "I didn't expect to be this popular already. You'll be the second person sitting in on one of my classes. You'll probably frighten the students less than Professor Snape, though."

Lucy giggled, "I should hope so. You've probably figured this out already but that man intimidates more than just the students. I'm just grateful he doesn't find my subject so…interesting. How did your class go with him here?"

Dinah couldn't help but laugh, "Oh, fine. He takes a rather abusive nature with his students, though. It was all I could do not to laugh when he swatted some of the Slytherins over the head with a rolled-up piece of parchment."

Lucy laughed, rubbing the back of her head. She remembered him doing that to a few students in her year.

"But yeah, I can see why he seems intimidating. I'd probably feel a little more intimidated myself if I didn't have my position to defend. As soon as someone makes comments like the ones he did about Muggles, I go on the defensive. There's no reason to be intimidated by somebody with such warped values. It's easy for me to feel empowered around people like that, when I know that my position is right. Er," she flushed, "Not to sound like a snob or anything."

Lucy waved her off, "Don't worry. You sound far from snobbish. I just hope I can be that firm in my opinions if he decided to poke his head into my class. Which I should probably get back to before the seventh years show up. I'm looking forward to teaching them. It's easier to have mature discussions with them then with the fifth years I just had."

"Yeah, probably," Dinah agreed, "I've only had a first year class so far. But they were pretty bright. I guess the thing with fifth years is that they're all fifteen, sixteen years old and convinced that there are better things to do with their time than school."

"Well, that and every time someone says something like penis, they all giggle. But that's the age I guess. Hormones raging and all that. I honestly don't remember being like that. Of course I was that kid who actually _liked_ school, always had her nose in a book, and was a bit short on friends. Luckily some of my cousins were here at the same time so I wasn't totally a loner and I did make a really good friend that I still talk to. Still none of them are here now, so it seems a bit lonely. Actually I can't say none of them are here. Ginny's in her last year but she'll be busy studying for her N.E.W.T.S and I doubt she'd want to hang out with a professor much anyway."

Dinah raised an eyebrow. Lucy thought she must be babbling again. Then the other professor smiled, "Well, I can relate. I was a bit of a loner when I was here, too. My magic wasn't discovered until I was sixteen, which is completely unheard of, so I was sort of treated differently from everybody else. And I still had to take all seven years of study, so I was always the oddball old person in my class group."

Lucy was shocked, that _was_ unheard of. She had assumed Professor Samson was her age. "That must have been difficult. I had assumed we were the same age. It's amazing how much we've changed since our school days, isn't it? I mean I never thought I'd be in a relationship at all, let alone one with someone like Sirius. And yet in some ways we're still the same. I'm still that girl who'd rather read then socialize."

Dinah nodded, "It's true. We change but we stay the same. I've always thought that each of us has a basic 'ground personality' that we build upon as we go, sometimes realizing we made a mistake and tearing down some of our work and rebuilding, but the basic ground level always stays," she smiled, "I sound like an old lady, don't I? Maybe if I was in a nice, healthy relationship like you are I wouldn't think so much all the time."

Lucy smiled, "I think it's a good philosophy. But I don't know that I'd call my relationship a nice, healthy one. We met about…wow, three years ago now. We flirted back and forth for the summer and when I was in town, not on an assignment. At the end of that school year, he was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange. I was pretty depressed after that. My aunt was really worried about me. She blamed Sirius for what I was going through. Then after the Battle at Hogwarts…well I'm sure you heard all about that. It was rather remarkable. We lived together the whole summer, up until I came here to start teaching. I think we're still in that obsessed with each other stage."

"Sounds like fun," Dinah grinned. She looked thoughtful, as if she was trying to figure something out. "You keep mentioning your relatives… and it seems like you were pretty deeply involved in the last wizarding war. The name Ginny sounds familiar, too," she laughed, "Can you tell me if I'm on the track of something, because it's eluding me."

Lucy laughed, usually people didn't have a hard time figuring out her connection to the Weasleys, but she supposed if you didn't know them well and with the different last names it might be difficult. "Oh, I'm sure you are. Most people I've come across put it together fairly quick, but I suppose you might not be familiar with the family seeing as you've been living in the Muggle world. Anyway, I'm related to the Weasleys. My mother was Mrs. Weasley's sister. And yes we were pretty involved in the wizarding war. Aunt Molly, Uncle Arthur, the two oldest children and I were members of the Order of the Phoenix."

"The Weasleys!" Dinah exclaimed, "That's what was familiar. Wasn't one of Harry Potter's best friends Ronald Weasley? And if I'm correct he's in a relationship with his friend's younger sister… wait! The head Gryffindor girl-" she cut herself off with a gasp as she seemed to finally make the connection.

"Yup. Right about all of it. Ginny is head girl of Gryffindor this year. Aunt Molly was so proud when she got that. I'm closest with Bill and Charlie, but Charlie's my age and Bill's only a little bit older. Percy's right behind me in age but we never got along too well seeing as up until recently he was really pompous. Fred and George are a riot. They might not seem all that substantial when you first meet them, but they're good people. So are Ron and Ginny, all the Weasleys are really."

"I thought Ginny looked familiar. I'd seen her picture in the paper this summer. It's amazing how much celebrity everyone associated with Harry Potter has been getting. Although, lately you don't hear that much about what Harry himself is doing."

"Well, he's out catching any left over Death Eaters. He's an Auror now, both him and Ron."

"Ah, I see," Dinah nodded. She seemed to be thinking about something for a moment before saying, "You say your uncle is interested in Muggles?"

Lucy laughed, "Yeah, that's a bit of an understatement. He collects as many Muggle things as he can get his hands on, and keep Aunt Molly from seeing, and tries to learn everything he can about them. He even had an enchanted car for awhile, until Ron lost it that is, even though he didn't know how to drive."

Dinah chuckled, "I'd like to meet him some time. But in the meantime, please feel free to drop in on one of my classes whenever you like. Now that you mention it, I was wondering if I might do the same with one of your classes? I've taken a few classes on Muggle literature in the past and I like to read when I have the time. I'm curious to see how you approach it."

"Oh, I'm sure he'd love to meet you too. You having experience with Muggles after all," Lucy changed topics to answer Dinah's other question, "You can stop by my class anytime. As I said I have seventh years next so the stuff they're doing is going to be closer to the level we're used to reading and I'm hoping to be able to at least talk with them more about theory then my other classes. If you'd rather come to any of the younger years that's fine too. I just might have to see if I can borrow some books off of you at some point. I've read a few Muggle books, but not many. It can be hard for me to get my hands on their literature."

"Sure," Dinah laughed, "Although I don't know how much of what I have could be called 'literature'. But I have a few of the classics – and some stuff that's just kind of fun. You can drop by sometime and look at my collection."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about the term literature. That's actually something I plan on talking about in class. But my taste in books has a wide range. I happen to be currently reading _Wizard Prince, Muggle Bride_ and I just finished _The Salem Letters_. You'd be welcome to raid my collection too. I don't have half of my books here but there's still plenty to choose from. That was one good thing about living in that big, old house of Sirius's, lots of room for my books with just the two of us there."

Dinah giggled, "_Wizard Prince, Muggle Bride_ sounds like one of those cheesy Muggle romance novels."

Lucy chuckled, "Well, it is a cheesy romance novel, just of the wizard variety. Sirius thinks they're ridiculous. I tell him they're research materials," she blushed.

Dinah laughed, "Well, I won't ask what he thinks of their quality as research materials. Me, I'm partial to mystery myself. I like romance more as a part of a larger story than as the main focus of a story. But hey, what you like is what you like."

"I enjoy a mystery every now and again too. Romances are just easy reads that I can pick up and put down when ever without worrying about losing the plot. I absolutely love historical fiction but that tends to make me hop from book to book looking up events and people."

She nodded, "I can see that. Well, I hate to cut our conversation short but the break is going to be over soon so we'd better get ready for our next classes. I'm sure I'll see you around soon. We'll have to figure out our schedules so we can find times to visit each other's classes."

Lucy stood, preparing to leave, "I should be going I suppose. It was nice getting to know each other a bit. You'll have to tell me more about your school days later. If we don't get a chance to talk at one of the meal times you can feel free to stop by my room. Being here by myself tends to leave my evenings wide open."

"Sure, I'll do that," Dinah smiled, "It was nice chatting with you. Enjoy the rest of your classes."

"Oh, I will. As long as Professor Snape doesn't see fit to sit in on one," Lucy said, heading towards the door. "I'll see you later Professor Samson."

Dinah chuckled, "We'll see if he chooses to sit in on one of mine again. Oh, by the way, feel free to call me Dinah as well."

"I'll cross my fingers that he doesn't. See you later, Dinah."

"Thanks, you too, Lucy," Dinah waved as Lucy left the room.

Lucy hoped Dinah would take her up on at least one of her offers. She seemed like a nice person and they had gotten along so well. She hadn't expected to have such a long conversation, but she was glad they had. Stepping into her classroom, Lucy began to get ready for her next class.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When the seventh years came into the room, Lucy was pleased to see both Ginny and Hermione had elected to be in the class. However, she had determined that during classes she would act the teacher and not their friend and relative. She started off this class with a speech similar to the one she had given earlier, with some variations.

"In this class we will be reading from _Fall From Grace_ and we will also be looking at _Bewitching the King_. The later novel is a fictional account of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. Some of you may know how some Muggles believed her to be a witch who used her powers to seduce the King. _Fall From Grace_ is an unusual take on the marriage of Henry VIII and Katherine Howard. She was the King's fifth wife and also a first cousin of Anne Boleyn. This book posits the possibility that Katherine was also a witch, much like her cousin. I realize that it may seem backwards for us to be reading this novel first but it is heavier on the fiction aspect than the other novel we'll be discussing. As historical fiction is a particular passion of mine I'm excited to be reading through these novels with you and hope that you will also find them as interesting as I do.

"Now, I'd like you all to read the first chapter of _Fall From Grace_ and write a twelve inch essay about what you believe literature to be. The essay can be longer if you choose but it needs to be a minimum of twelve inches." They went over a few more of the basics of the class before Lucy dismissed them to lunch.

* * *

Entering the Great Hall for lunch, Lucy made her way towards the faculty table. She was elated to notice that Slughorn was once again absent from the meal and waved at Dinah sitting at the other end of the table. The other professor waved back, gesturing at Snape with her thumb and making a face. Poor Dinah only sat a couple seats from the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Unfortunately Snape seemed to have noticed Dinah's gesture and glared at her while Dinah quickly pretended to be engrossed in her food.

Once in her seat, Lucy began placing pizza, chips, and a couple onion rings on her plate. She was pleased to see a chocolate milkshake in her glass. She was not one of those girls who had to watch her weight, nor did she care if the amount of food she ate made her look less then feminine. Perhaps it ran in the family, Ron was well known to eat large amounts of food as well.

When she scanned the room's occupants she smiled to see Hermione already reading what looked very much like _Fall From Grace_. She remembered being that girl. The one who spent her mealtimes reading and not socializing. Ginny though, was chatting with various friends. She'd always had a rather outgoing personality and she had been fairly popular before she'd become Harry Potter's girlfriend. Now, she was even more popular.

Minerva turned to look at Lucy from her seat a few chairs down the table. "I've been thinking about our earlier conversation," was all she said to the younger professor.

Uh oh. Minerva was one of the most astute professors at Hogwarts. If she had been thinking about their earlier conversation she had probably come to the right conclusion. "Oh?" she said, trying to be nonchalant.

"Yes, you said you couldn't argue very hard about him registering. I found myself trying to think of reasons why that would be."

"And what sort of conclusion did you come up with?"

"That you have done a similar thing."

Lucy blushed. Knowing she wouldn't be able to pull one over on Minerva she confessed, "I tried to tell them. I've been able to transform for awhile now. I started learning how right after I left Hogwarts and started Auror training. I went in a few times to show them my other form and to be registered, but every time I tried I couldn't do it. I don't know maybe I was too nervous or something. Eventually though, they began to refuse to see me. So, I've never….well I can't exactly register if they won't let me."

"You do have a point. Though you know the Ministry is reforming, you should really try to do right again."

Lucy nodded, "I know, but like many others I developed a distrust of the Ministry. It will take awhile to earn that trust back and I'm not going to go to them with this until I trust them. I do agree with Sirius though. In some ways it's nice knowing that I have the ability to just disappear and not have to be beholden to a corrupt system."

"They weren't always corrupt, nor will they always be that way."

"I know and I look forward to that day."

The sound of a chair scraping against the floor had Lucy looking down the table at the source of the sound. Dinah was marching away from the table, her chair rocking from the force of her exit and her face flushed with what looked like anger. The other professor hadn't seemed the type to be overly emotional so Lucy assumed someone at that end of the table had said something extremely disagreeable. Probably Professor Snape. He had a habit of being cruel and pigheaded. She didn't think he was all bad, but she had no illusions as to him being a saint either.

Lucy hoped that Dinah knew if she wanted to talk about it she could confide in her, even as soon as lunch ended. Lucy had office hours scheduled for the hour after lunch, but as it was only the first day and she'd only had two classes so far, she doubted any of the students would need much assistance at this point.

* * *

In her office Lucy walked around, rearranging things she had already put away. Everything was out of her trunks and on her shelves, but now they needed organization. Lucy nearly fell to the floor when a small creature was suddenly flying around her head.

The small bird landed on her desk, hopping around, excited to have done its job. A letter nearly as large as the owl hung from its beak. "Pig," Lucy muttered. Ron's owl had even managed to scare her normally brave cat under her desk. She took the letter from Pig and sat at her desk, concerned that Ron was writing to her. They got along well enough, but it wasn't as if they were so close they shared each others confidences.

Lucy read the first few lines, relieved to see that they were mainly about how to deal with something she knew about. Mrs. Weasley's concern over being an Auror. The simple truth was, as Ron probably already knew, that you couldn't. She would worry and fuss, just as she worried and fussed over Charlie and his profession. Nothing anyone could say would make her stop, until they got a less dangerous profession.

She was beginning to pen a reply to the parts of the letter she had read when a soft knock interrupted her. "Yes?" she said, trying to finish her sentence before looking up.

"Lucy? Can I come in?"

Lucy looked up and saw her cousin standing in the doorway. "Of course! Come on in. It is during office hours after all."

Ginny sat in front of the desk, looking around the room. Spotting Pig, she said, "You got a letter from Ron too?"

Lucy chuckled, "Yeah. He just needed some help dealing with Aunt Molly fussing about his dangerous job. I guess he thought that seeing as I was an Auror for a whole long year I might be able to help." She smiled, taking the sting off her words.

"I guess he just couldn't resist whining to everyone about how much Mum's worrying over him. Little does he know she's going around telling everyone how proud she is that her son is an Auror."

"If he knows your mother at all, he probably does know that. Now, was there something you needed?"

"Well, I was just wondering if I should be calling you Professor Ketteridge or just Lucy? I mean you _are_ a professor but you're also my cousin and its weird calling you Professor."

"When we're at school it probably would be best if you did call me Professor, though I do agree it's weird. Outside of Hogwarts I could care less what you call me, but I wouldn't want anyone accusing me of showing you favoritism. I suppose I should be calling you Miss Weasley too."

"Not all of the professors do you know. I mean they all do most of the time, but some do occasionally call us by our first names. By the way," Ginny changed subjects slightly, with a knowing smile, "should I get used to calling you Professor Ketteridge or should I be prepared to start calling you Professor Black soon?"

Lucy blushed and held up both her hands, "Do you see any rings on these fingers?"

Ginny pointed at one of her fingers, "Yes, I see one right there."

"That is my mother's ring and it's not even on the proper finger."

"You asked if I saw any rings!"

Lucy smiled, "You nut. Is there is anything else you need?"

"Nope, but I can take your letter and Pig with me if you want. I could send my letter back to Ron with yours."

"Sure. Thanks," she told Ginny as the younger girl left the office. With the owl now gone, Dora came out from under the desk and hopped onto Lucy's lap. Ginny's comment earlier had gotten her thinking. She and Sirius hadn't talked about marriage yet, but then they'd only been dating for a couple months. Maybe it was still too soon; after all, as she had told Dinah, they were still in the obsessed with each other stage.

She wasn't too worried about it at this point but at some point she'd like to know that they were on the path to marriage. Not necessarily right away but at some point in the future. It'd probably be best if they were in a more stable, grown-up place before either of them brought that up though. Besides she was quite sure his mother hated her, that wasn't likely to deter Sirius from marrying her though. More than likely it would be an incentive.

Turning her thoughts away from that subject she forced herself to think about the rest of her day. The rest of her classes, and dinner, went by smoothly. Until she was back in her room and Sirius crept into her mind that was. She shouldn't miss him. After all she had been the one who told him not to keep sneaking in.

Lucy fell asleep quicker then she had expected to. Her first day of teaching had worn her out more than any of her summer activities had.

* * *

Something wet and rough was running itself across her nose. Something else was lying on her feet. Lucy was sure that the thing at her feet was definitely her cat. Whatever was licking her was a bit more disturbing. It wasn't big enough to be Snuffles tongue, but the only thing in her room when she went to sleep had been Elladora.

Her eyes opened a crack and she nearly fell out of bed, startled. There was a large, brown tabby cat staring at her. "Well, who are you?" She shooed the cat off the bed and got up to get ready for breakfast. As she was pulling on her robes the clock on her dresser caught her eye. "Oh, hell! I'm going be late for my office hours. I hope no one's looking for help right away," she said to the cats.

She picked up the brown tabby, "I'd better take you with me. Maybe I can find out who you belong to," She opened the door to rush to her office, turning quickly back to Dora, "You stay here while I try and find out where this guy belongs."

No one came to her office hours which allowed Lucy to slow down and feel less rushed when she taught her third years before lunch. Exiting her room behind her class she noticed Dinah leaving her room, "Hi," she called to the other teacher, "You heading to lunch?" Dinah laughed and Lucy realized that was a bit of a stupid question.

"Of course I am. How's your second day going so far?"

"Oh, not bad. I woke up late, found a strange cat in my room, who's currently residing in my office, and to top it off no one showed up for my office hours. That's the least of my worries though. As you said it is only the second day," Lucy laughed again, "Geez the way I'm talking you'd think I've been having a terrible day. I haven't, really. I'm just being a bit pessimistic today I guess. How's your day been?"

"Not too bad. The students have been pretty receptive to most of my ideas. Some of them are being resistant but it's only their first day and, well, that's to be expected anyway I suppose. I also lost my cat," Dinah smiled.

Lucy laughed, "Perhaps I found him. Why don't you come over later and see if it's your cat? I've been keeping him in my office so he doesn't get lost again and I've got food for him of course. He's not suffering; I was lavishing him with attention last time I was in the office."

"Well, he's definitely an attention hound so I'm sure he's loving it there. Are you free at all this afternoon? I have a break later and I can come get Godric if you're free."

"Godric? After Godric Gryffindor?"

Dinah nodded.

"That's fun. I've been calling him Nick. For Nicolas Flamel. Anyway, I have office hours from three to four but other than that I'm in class until dinner."

"Alright. I'll come get him sometime after dinner if that's no problem. Enjoy your lunch!" Dinah said, waving as she headed for the end of the table she sat at.

Lucy lingered over her lunch of steak and shrimp kabobs, picking off the shrimp and setting it aside. She didn't like seafood but maybe she could smuggle it into her room for Godric or Dora. She was glad to not to have to make conversation with anyone today. She didn't mind talking to Minerva really, but sometimes it was nice to eat in quite contemplation of one's own life.

Her thoughts wandering, Lucy was nearly late to her first class with the new first years. She rushed to her room to find the students gathering outside the closed classroom door. "Hello everyone. Sorry I'm late. Please go in, take your seats, and we'll get started," Lucy told her young students, smiling. She followed the first years into her room, going through to her office for a few moments so that she could toss Godric some of the shrimp she had snuck out of the Great Hall.

Lucy returned to stand in front of her desk, smiling at the first years. She remembered being that young, excited and a bit afraid of the unknown. In this case the unknown was her and the class they were taking. This early in the year the youngest Hogwarts students tended to sit grouped by house, whether or not the professor required it.

"All right. I'm glad to see so many of our younger students have an interest in reading. My name, as you may already know is Professor Ketteridge and this is Wizarding Literature. I know how confusing it can be getting from class to class at Hogwarts, especially when you're new so if this isn't the class you're supposed to be in, please feel free to go. I promise I won't be offended." Lucy was pleased when none of the students got up to leave and continued on, "You may have noticed I've assigned your class three books, which is more than what I've assigned most of the other classes. I think you guys can handle it though. We're going to be reading through _Happy Snorcacks, Magical Fun,_ and also a collection of well known tales that are told to many wizard children, _The Tales of Beedle the Bard._

"I realize that these may be new tales to a good portion of you which is why I chose to start out with books that maybe on the young side for you. I'd also like to encourage those of you who are Muggle-born to bring in some common children's tales for the class to read and discuss." A small girl seated with the Ravenclaws raised her hand. "Yes, Miss Yates?"

"But Professor Samson encourages us not to think of each other as Muggle-born and Pure-blood. She says we're all people. Isn't bringing in fairytales going against what the Professor is trying to do?"

"It might seem that way, but that's not my intention. Like Professor Samson I believe it is important for us to study different cultures so that we might understand both our differences and similarities. Literature is one way of accomplishing this. Studying the texts of Muggles is no different than learning from the texts of other wizarding cultures."

The little girl nodded, "Kind of like how my brother takes classes about American and Russian literature."

"Very likely. I'm afraid I'm not really familiar enough with the way Muggle students are taught in their schools to say for sure, but perhaps Professor Samson will be able to confirm that for you." The first years seemed much more inquisitive than any of her previous classes and Lucy found herself spending the rest of the class period answering their questions.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After dinner Lucy decided to be proactive and take Godric back to Dinah. She picked up the big male cat, telling Dora, "You can come too." She made the short trip from her room to the other in silence. The door was closed when she got there, so she knocked, and waited for it to open.

"Lucy!" Dinah looked surprised. She probably hadn't expected Lucy to come over with Godric seeing as how they had made plans for Dinah to come get him.

"I'm sorry. I know we said you'd come get him, but…I was wondering…can I come in?"

"Sure," Dinah opened the door wider to allow her access.

Lucy settled on the couch, eyes downcast, letting go of Godric and Dora leapt up on her lap. She started stroking the cat before saying, "I think I may have given you the wrong impression the other day."

"Wrong impression? Of what?" Dinah looked very confused.

"When I called romance novels research materials. I know you might not believe me, heck I doubt anyone would, but we've never…that is Sirius and I haven't…we haven't _used_ the research yet," she could feel her face starting to heat up as she tried to explain herself to the other woman.

"Oh..._ that's_ what you're worried about?" Dinah looked amused at first, then her expression become thoughtful: "Well, now you mention it I suppose I can understand. I hope I didn't seem too flippant when you said it. I didn't really mean to sound like it was so easy to believe you were... well, doing things or whatever. I just assumed that's what you were getting at, and it's so common these days, anyway," she shrugged.

"Oh, you were fine and I did sort of imply it. It's sort of weird for me is all. I mean we've done pretty much everything but...and we do sleep in the same bed. I like having him close. I'm kind of afraid he's going to disappear on me again."

"It must be nice. Being in such a close relationship, that is," Dinah sighed, looking as if she wished she had what Lucy did.

Lucy nodded, "Yes, it is. I like it when we're in bed and I'm just about asleep and he pulls me close and hugs me. But I'm beginning to think that this fear of mine is getting a little ridiculous. I mean I don't want to go to bed tonight because he's not going to be there and I've gotten so used to him being there," she closed her eyes for a moment, a tear or two slipping between her lashes, "I'm always afraid now. Afraid he won't be there in the morning. And now that I'm here he won't be. My brain knows that this is stupid and he's fine but it can't quite seem to convince my heart that this is stupid and he's not going to disappear again."

"I'm sorry," Dinah said, sympathy in her voice, "I'm sure it must be difficult. But surely you can talk to him about these worries?"

Lucy sniffed and wiped at her eyes, "You're right I suppose. I've gotten so used to him acting like a teenager that I tend to forget he's old enough to handle his emotional girlfriend. And I'm really just avoiding having to go to bed. But once I'm asleep I won't know what I'm missing, right? I hope you know you can talk to me about whatever, whenever. You probably won't believe me but I really am a fairly decent listener."

Dinah smiled, "Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." For a moment she seemed thoughtful, as though something was bothering her that she might like to mention, but she just shook her head and continued, "You really should get some sleep, if you can. I should too... early classes tomorrow and all that."

"Sorry for dumping all that on you. I didn't mean to, but thanks for listening anyway. Come on Dora," she stood and headed for the door, before turning, "Oh, my seventh years are going to be turning in their papers on what they think literature is tomorrow if you want to stop by. It should be an interesting discussion."

"No problem," Dinah smiled, "And sure, I'll try to stop by. I've been curious about your classes."

* * *

Lucy closed her bedroom door before plopping down on her bed. From her position she watched Dora…walk away from her. "Yes, I know that was stupid and kind of pathetic. You don't have to point it out. Thank you very much."

Dora continued walking and hopped up onto the windowsill, ignoring Lucy.

"Well, excuse me for being an emotional wreck. We can't all be as well adjusted as you. The last wizarding war wasn't nearly as hard on you as it was on others. You were well looked after in a relatively safe and happy home, others of us were not." She yanked the pillow out from underneath her head and hugged it to her chest. "I doubt I'm going to get much sleep tonight." She laid silent for a few moments before sighing and sitting up, "Well, if I'm not going to sleep I might as well do something productive. Maybe writing Sirius a letter will help.'

_Sirius,_

_I'm not writing dear because, well, I find it awkward to address some people as dear and besides I'm not one of those girls who have to call her boyfriend sweetie, honey, baby, or whatever. I don't like girls like that….except, I'm kind of being that girl. I'm that girl who can't sleep because you're not here and I really, really don't like being that girl._

_Maybe I've developed some sort of separation anxiety disorder or something. I don't know. I just know I miss you. That and I have this stupid irrational fear that you're not going to be around when I wake up. I mean I know you won't actually be here with me but I think you know what I'm getting at. It's stupid and irrational and….I'm not sending this letter. This letter is also stupid and irrational and as I keep saying I don't want to be that girl. So you're just going to have to find out about my stupid, irrational fears when I'm good and ready to talk to you about them and not in a stinking letter, or I crack and have a nervous breakdown, whichever comes first. Either way I'm not sending this letter….I'm not_

Sunlight poking at her eyes was what finally woke Lucy up. She groaned, looking over to where Dora sat on the bed, "_Don't_ give me that look. It is not my fault that my body chose this spot to stop functioning in."

She got up, removed the robe she had been wearing from the day before, which was what she fell asleep in, and stopped to look at herself in the mirror. "Oh, that's just lovely." She didn't have many lines on her face from sleeping on the paper. No, evidence suggested that she had gone down on the letter face first while the ink was still wet. Evidence in the form of her fairly neat handwriting clearly shown, backwards, on her forehead. Once again she turned to her cat, "I guess I shouldn't have grown my bangs out. If I hadn't I'd be able to cover this up no problem. As it is…" She played with her hair, trying to cover her forehead, while picking up the letter and shoving it in a random book.

Crossing the room yet again, she didn't even look when she pulled a fresh robe out of the wardrobe and reached into a drawer to pull out a pair of pajama bottom type shorts that she liked to wear under her robes. She could handle occasionally wearing a skirt or a dress but wearing nothing under her robes but underwear was a little too risqué for her tastes.

Knowing she was probably late for breakfast, Lucy shoved her thumbs inside the waistband of the shorts she was wearing, yanking them down. "Ow ow ow ow!" She kicked the shorts off and angled herself as best she could to look at her backside in the mirror. "Oh this day just keeps getting better," she muttered, rubbing the long, shallow gash in her upper thigh, the result of her haste and her thumbnail.

Leaving the scratch to its own devices, as there wasn't much she could do about it, she continued dressing. She plucked her seldom used hat off its hook and placed it on her head. She wasn't thrilled with how it looked but it did well enough to cover the writing on her forehead. Lucy looked at the time, hoping she had enough time to grab something for breakfast, even if it was one piece of unbuttered toast.

"Lovely," she grumbled, turning to her cat for the third time, "I was so worried about not getting any sleep that I appear to have slept right through breakfast. The school day starts in five minutes and I have class first thing. That's no where near enough time to run to the Great Hall and back. Well," Lucy tugged her robe into neat order and shoved her hat slightly higher on her head, "here's hoping the rest of the day goes better." She grabbed the door knob, Elladora on her heels.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"All right, quiet down," she said. The class had been rather chatty when she walked in. Probably her fault for being late. "Sorry for my tardiness, I overslept. It happens to the best of us, but I don't recommend you use this as an excuse for constant tardiness," she sat down calmly at her desk pulling at her hat to make sure it was covering her forehead. "Now, how did you all find the first chapter of _Arthur and I_?"

For the rest of class they discussed the opening chapter of the book which talked about the early days of Arthur and Merlin's relationship. After two hours Lucy was starving and a headache was beginning to form, either from not eating or from her hat she wasn't really sure which. Regardless, Lucy was relieved to see the class go and her office hours arrive.

She gratefully snuck down to the kitchens and asked the house-elves for some apple slices and caramel dip to snack on before lunch. In her office she took her hat off and examined her forehead, munching on an apple slice. "Oh, Dora. I don't think this is going to come off easily. I suppose I could pop over to Madam Pomfrey's and see if she can help but I simply don't have time to do that until after lunch at the earliest and then I'd be cutting out on my office hours _again_."

Her office hour between the fifth years and seventh years seemed to have gone by rather quickly and she entered her classroom ten minutes before the class was to start. The students began shuffling in, Luna and Ginny among the first to arrive. Odd, she'd have thought Hermione would be the first in the class room, she seemed the sort. In between some of the students Dinah came in and Lucy smiled at her while waving. It probably looked awkward. She was still feeling a bit self-conscious after her emotional break down last night. Hopefully that didn't turn Dinah off of being her friend.

Hermione finally arrived and waved at Dinah before joining Ginny and Luna in the front of the class. She had what looked like a rather long piece of parchment, longer than the twelve required inches anyway. She couldn't complain too much though as she had been overly thorough in her school assignments as well.

She walked around to the front of her desk and leaned against it. Lucy noticed a number of students whispering and pointing at her hat or sometimes Dinah, but she chose to ignore the ones regarding her head. "I'm sure you're all wondering what Professor Samson is doing here today. Well, we're both new here and we each find the others subject rather interesting so we've decided to sit in on each others classes at some point. Both to learn and also to observe different teaching techniques. Now today we're going to be discussing our essays that we wrote since last class and Professor Samson please feel free to join in with your opinions as well. Is there anything you'd like to say before we dig in?"

Dinah shook her head, "No, just thank you for letting me sit in. I'm hoping to learn a lot of interesting new things today, so I hope you can satisfy my thirst for knowledge." She smiled and a few of the students laughed.

Lucy smiled, "You're welcome. Now," she looked at the students, "would any of you like to share from your essays. You're not required to, but if you feel comfortable doing so I would appreciate it." Instantly Hermione raised her hand. Lucy wasn't surprised. Hermione truly embraced her identity of being the brainy one. "Yes, Miss Granger, please go ahead."

Hermione stood, unrolled her parchment, and cleared her throat before beginning, "Literature is the writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, such as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. It can be the entire body of writings of a specific language, period, or people, the writings dealing with a particular subject, or any kind of printed material, such as circulars, leaflets, or handbills. In the archaic meaning it refers to polite learning, literary culture or the appreciation of letters and books."

She paused to take a breath and Lucy interrupted, "I'm sorry but that's not exactly what I meant when I asked you to tell me what literature was. It's a perfectly acceptable essay so far and you've done exactly what I asked, but I wanted more of what you personally considered literature. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. If that's the case I'm sorry. As I said earlier I'm new at this and so we'll both have things to learn."

Hermione sat back in her seat looking embarrassed.

"Please don't feel bad. It means a lot to me that you were brave enough to share the beginning of your essay with the class. Perhaps if I word my question a bit differently…Do you consider this," she held up her copy of _Wizard Prince, Muggle Bride_, "literature? Or is this," she put the book down and picked up _Salem Letters_, "more like what you would call literature?" She waited while the students looked at each other looking confused and unwilling to offer an answer.

"Well," Dinah spoke up, "I think I'd represent the students' thoughts if I said that the latter is what most people would consider... literature," she grinned a little, "But perhaps you're going to tell us that that's not the case?"

Lucy smiled, "Not exactly. I do agree that that is what most people would say. But I would counter with the question: Who is qualified to decide what is and what is not literature?"

Felix Cadwallader, a Hufflepuff, raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Cadwallader?"

"Well, shouldn't the experts be the one to decide what is literature and what isn't?"

"That would be the logical conclusion yes. But then we must ask ourselves who are the experts?"

"Aren't you an expert?" Another Hufflepuff named Felicity Wellbeloved asked.

Lucy turned to her desk for a moment. She knew it was wrong but, she couldn't help it the named amused her. "Thanks for the compliment but just because I teach it doesn't make me an expert. It does, however, make me knowledgeable. What would make someone an expert on literature?"

"It would seem logical that if you read all the books ever written you would be an expert but that's not doable in someone's lifetime. Even if you could do it everyone brings their own biases to the work and so determining what is and is not literature would always be subjective and therefore no one can rightly determine what literature is."

"Thank you Luna," Lucy said smiling. The girl was a bit spacey but if people would just listen to her she could be surprisingly logical. "That's about as right as you can get on the subject. As I said last class there really isn't a right or wrong answer to the question. Like we learned from Hermione literature can be any sort of written work really. Now you might not like romance novels but that shouldn't diminish their worth as a creative work. This brings me to my next topic of discussion," she waved her wand and a piece of chalk began making a diagram on the board. There was a box in the middle with the word "Text" written in it and a number 3 circled underneath. Three lines came out of the box, one on each side and one on the top. Each line connected to the words Author, World, and Reader. The words had small numbers 1, 2, and 4, respectively, circled underneath them. The chalk then went on to write some more as Lucy continued talking. "These are the four main kinds of Literary Theory. The first is an expressive theory of literature or how the text relates to the author. The second is a mimetic theory and is referring to the text being an imitation of something in the world. Thirdly we have the formal theory and that just means we look at the text itself and its shape. Finally there is the pragmatic theory which asks what effect does a literary text have on its reader? Before I go on are there any questions?"

The students began furiously taking down notes. As they finished one student raised his hand, "Yes, Mr…" Lucy started to blush when she forgot the student's name.

"Joss Harper, Professor. I thought this class was supposed to be about literature?"

"Well, yes but I think you guys are mature enough to handle something beyond just reading the books and talking about them. Don't you?"

"I—I—I—l"

"I think you are. Besides what we're learning about today will help you with future assignments. Now, if no one else has any questions I'd like to move on to the kinds of questions we, as literary theorists, might ask ourselves when looking at a text. Don't worry though, if you have questions later I'd be more than happy to answer them during my office hours or anytime really," she glanced at the time, "We might be cutting it a bit close on time so those of you who didn't read the chapter I assigned will get a reprieve for today, but be warned we are going to be using this lesson during our discussion next class," she flicked her wand and the chalk flew to another board where it began scribbling out more words.

As each point was written out and the students began copying it, Lucy explained what each question was about, along with a few examples to help illustrate her point. Every so often a student would raise their hand looking for some clarification. She glanced back at Dinah, happy to see the other professor looked interested in what she was saying.

"…and the last question we'll be talking about today is cultural. In other words how can the work illuminate our understanding of cultural, ethnic, economic, or gender groups?"

Lucy looked at the time again, noting they only had ten minutes left, "For instance, in the first chapter of _Fall From Grace_ how do we learn about the differences between men and women in the 16th century? What does the author teach us about the culture of the time? We can't discuss much about the ethnic and economic differences in the book because we haven't been introduced to anyone who wasn't of the nobility and at the time they were all exclusively the same ethnicity."

Hermione raised her hand, not swayed by her earlier embarrassment, "Even in the first chapter we see how Anne's sister, Mary, was married to a man years older than her and without her consent. Then after her marriage her uncle, who was the head of the family on her mother's side, being a duke and all, pushed her into abandoning her husband in order to sleep with the King. I think in this instance we can't separate the culture from the gender groups as it's the culture of the time that causes the different way the genders were treated."

Lucy nodded, impressed with the way Hermione had picked up on how the cultural aspect of the novel was intertwined with how the women were treated. Fortunately there were now only a couple minutes left in class and Lucy felt like she was starving, "I know it's a little early, but I don't want to go to much farther in the discussion only to have to cut us off in the middle. There's no homework for next class, just read the first chapter if you haven't yet, feel free to read ahead if you're so inclined. Oh, and your essays can go on my desk as you leave."

Lucy sat at her desk and tugged on her hat again. The day so far really hadn't been as bad as the morning had made it seem, but she was hungry and the hat was making her head hurt and she was tired and that scratch was starting to itch…Once the students all left she'd be able to go to lunch, until then she'd sit at her desk straightening their parchments.

The students filed out of the room and Lucy looked around to see Dinah examining the diagram that she'd drawn earlier in the class. "Nice and simple isn't it?"

Dinah turned to Lucy and grinned, "Mostly. Although I must confess I never realized literature was as complex as you described it today. Or as broad. I mean, when I was doing my degrees at Muggle University we did refer to the journal articles we read as 'literature', as in going to survey the literature or do a literature review. But I guess I always thought there were two definitions of the word. The one that meant, well basically fiction classics and then the one that meant just any kind of written work. But they're both the same 'literature'."

"Yeah, I mean it's not _wrong_ to think of literature as only works of fiction but I think we limit ourselves in saying only certain types of literature have worth because they're deemed to be 'classic'. Not that a romance novel generally has a life altering theme but they can have an entertainment value for those who read them. And the articles you had to read for your degree probably illuminated your understanding of cultural, ethnic, economic, or gender groups?" Lucy grinned, she'd had those questions memorized for awhile now.

"Oh yes." Dinah nodded, "My whole life was cultural, ethnic, economic, or gender groups. For eleven years straight. Certainly puts the seven years people spend at Hogwarts into perspective, doesn't it?"

Lucy toyed with the quill sitting on her desk, "I suppose. Sometimes I think it would have been nice to have the opportunity to continue on with more concentrated studies, but I probably wouldn't have done it anyway. I would still have made the choice to start Auror's training."

"Wow, an Auror, huh?" Dinah's eyes widened, "That's really impressive. What made you change your mind about it?"

"Um, I had been an Auror for about a year when Cedric Diggory was killed. I don't suppose you heard about that? Well shortly after that Dumbledore and Harry tried to tell everyone You-Know-Who…I mean Voldemort was back. The Ministry basically said there was nothing to worry about, he wasn't back, Dumbledore and Harry were just a couple of crackpots looking for attention. I quit that summer. I told them I couldn't represent a Ministry whose policies I did not support. Never for one moment did I believe Dumbledore was crazy. I didn't know Harry at the time but I had no reason to believe he was just looking for attention like they said."

"I see," Dinah nodded, "I tended to believe them back then too, despite what I read in the Daily Prophet when I got a chance to look. Dumbledore had been too good to me for me to ever consider him a crackpot." Lucy gave her a look. Dumbledore was kind to his students to be sure, but he didn't normally get as involved in his students lives as Dinah seemed to be implying. The other professor shook her head; "Anyway, I thought maybe we could go get lunch at Hogsmeade or something today? I haven't been in a long time, and it would give us a chance to chat some more. That is, if you were interested."

"Oh, that'd be great! I woke up late and didn't' get a chance for breakfast. It hasn't been that long since I've been to Hogsmeade but it'll be nice to have a meal where I don't worry about being cornered by Professor Slughorn."

Dinah grinned, "I know. He can be rather a pest sometimes, can't he? I was in the Slug Club when I was here, so I know full well what it's like."

Lucy rolled her eyes as the pair walked out of the room, "I never had the pleasure until this year. He was retired by the time I came to Hogwarts," she shrugged, thinking about some of the things she'd heard about the Slug Club, "My family connections probably wouldn't have been enough for him to invite me anyway. The only thing I would have had to recommend me would be my ability to make the potions."

"Yes, he does value potion-making ability. But I think that alone wouldn't be enough to get you into the club unless you were so good that _every_ concoction you prepared was 100% perfect." She stopped abruptly, "But enough about Slughorn. I'm starving!"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Lucy watched the people walking around Hogsmeade. There was no reason to think she might see Sirius. After all he was supposed to be looking for a house to buy. They had talked about just renting a place for weekends and short breaks but he had been insistent about buying and not renting.

Dinah interrupted her thoughts, saying, "Well, where would you like to eat?"

Lucy looked around. The Hog's Head was right there and it would be nice to see Aberforth again, but her friend didn't seem terribly impressed with the tavern. Not that she really blamed her. It was obvious The Hog's Head wasn't worried about keeping up appearances, "The Three Broomsticks is pretty popular. It can get kind of crowded though, so if crowds bother you you probably don't want to eat there."

"No, that's fine. I seem to remember they had excellent butterbeer," the two women headed into The Three Broomsticks and had to wait about ten minutes before Madam Rosmerta showed them to a small table.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Dinah asked after their drinks were brought and they had ordered their food, "Where did you learn about literary theory? I don't know much about it in either magical or Muggle society, but I feel like the concepts would be similar. Do you know if they are?"

Lucy shook her head, "I'm not sure if they are or not. I learned from books we had at home. That's what my…father does. He analyses books I suppose you could say. He had a ton of books about theory and I taught myself from them. I'd assume any of the theories that came about before the Statute of Secrecy went into effect are the same but anything after that…"

"Hm," she mused, "I don't know, I just have a feeling there are some similarities. I wonder if any kind of knowledge leaked back and forth somehow. Then again, I assume there could have been Muggle born witches or wizards in the past that wrote those books you read from their experiences in both societies."

"You could be right. I mean I know there are wizards and witches who've had relationships with Muggles and I'd assume they'd have shared ideas about things," Lucy said thoughtfully, taking a sip from her mulled mead.

"That could be an argument for Professor Snape," she said softly, "That more of our society and the things we know are connected than some people think."

"Been arguing with the former Potions Master, have you? That must be…interesting to say the least."

"I wouldn't call it arguing," Dinah said, then took a moment to thank Madam Rosmerta as she deposited her ham sandwich and chips in front of her and Lucy's corned beef sandwich with boiled potatoes at her place, "At least most of it isn't arguing. More like friendly debating. We've actually done it like three more times since I talked to him in class."

"Oh," Lucy said, not really sure what to say, "I'm sorry I guess I'm still used to thinking of him as my professor instead of my colleague. I can't really imagine debating with him. The last time I argued with him I got detention…"

Dinah laughed, "I guess he can be intimidating. I keep forgetting that he actually taught you. I never had him because I stopped taking potions after my fifth year."

Lucy shifted in her seat, she doubted the scratch she'd given herself earlier was as bad as it felt, but the area was still sore. "Oh, really? Did you just not want to continue on or something else?"

"Well," Dinah frowned, "Being in the Slug Club I had already excelled in potions, but I also knew at that point that I wanted to go to Muggle university rather than getting a job in the magical community. I wasn't worried too much about my N.E.W.T.s and so I didn't take any more classes than I absolutely had to. I did a lot of independent study instead. Dumbledore oversaw it."

"It must have been nice not to have to continue on with potions. I mean I did well and everything but I could have done without the two years of intense, mind-numbing pressure."

She smiled, "It's probably a good thing I didn't have Professor Snape as a teacher then. Plus we would have been the same age. That would have been strange."

Lucy nearly laughed out loud, "Not to mention awkward when you came back here to teach. Did you always plan to come back and teach?"

"It was always in the back of my mind, although I wasn't sure if it would ever happen. I mentioned it to Dumbledore right before I left and he said he would 'continue to keep me in mind for the future', whatever that meant. But it was rather inspirational. Anyway, after my somewhat difficult years at Hogwarts I really wanted to learn about ... well, just about people. How they interact in both societies, how discrimination works, and how to try and fix it. I really wanted to make a difference in the way Muggle-borns were treated. Also I never much liked the Sorting system. I guess I could be biased though. I was stuck fluctuating between two houses my entire time in school."

"Two houses? I'm sorry I'm confused," Lucy had no clue what Dinah was talking about. Students were only sorted into one house.

Dinah smile, "I was a special case. Maybe because of my age, I really don't know. But the sorting hat couldn't decide. I ended up spending the time before break as a Gryffindor and the time after as a Hufflepuff. Every year."

Lucy grimaced, "That must have made things so much worse. I mean you probably couldn't have gone out for quidditch if you wanted to or anything else like that really. You couldn't develop a loyalty to one house…"

"Right, I actually saw more clearly how the houses divided people. Stronger where Slytherin was concerned but also with the other houses." She shrugged, "But I persevered and it helped me choose a satisfying career path so I guess I shouldn't consider it all bad."

"Personally I liked having the different houses but maybe it's because I had my cousins in Gryffindor and Tonks in Hufflepuff that I didn't really see much division. There was some don't get me wrong I just never noticed any extreme cases, except with, as you said, Slytherin."

She nodded, "Slytherin was the biggest problem, for sure. Still is as I understand it. But I always hoped I could change that a little bit. Or at least try," she took a sip of her butterbeer and finished off the last bite of her sandwich, "By the way, if you want to come sit in on one of my classes, maybe it would be good to do the seventh years. Some of the students in your class are in each of my seventh year classes. Though I can't remember what our schedules are like off the top of my head. It's something we could look into."

"That sounds fine. I could recite my whole schedule for you." Lucy grinned, joking around.

Dinah laughed, "Well, how about we make it easier and I tell you when I have my seventh years. I teach my first group of seventh years at two o'clock on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and I teach my second group at five o'clock on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday."

"Well my two o'clock is completely booked all week but I could make five on Wednesday. I can come today if you want but I'd like to get a jump on those essays. Hey!" Lucy yelled when someone yanked her hat off her head.

"What's with the hat Lu? You never wear hats," Sirius grabbed an extra chair and plopped down next to Lucy.

She quickly covered her forehead with her hand, hoping no one noticed the writing on her head, "I just felt like wearing a hat, okay? Dinah, this is Sirius. Sirius this is the new Muggle Studies professor Dinah Samson."

"Um, nice to meet you," Dinah said distractedly. Great she'd probably seen Lucy's forehead.

"You too," he looked back towards Lucy, "You look like an idiot. You can take your hand off your head, you know," he tugged at her hand.

"No, no I like it where it is, thank you."

There was a brief, flirty struggle until Sirius managed to yank her hand away from her head. "Well, well, what have we here?"

She would have covered it up with her other hand but he grabbed that one too. "It's nothing."

"It doesn't look like nothing. Does it Dinah?" he asked chuckling.

"What? Oh!" Dinah flushed, embarrassed as they both turned to look at her and caught her staring, "Um, well, no."

Lucy wanted to glare daggers at her friend but they hadn't known each other too long and she was still worried about scaring her away. "I couldn't sleep last night. I was writing letters and I—I fell asleep on them," she was sure she was blushing now and that it wasn't helping to hide the writing on her forehead.

"Oh," Dinah said, "I guess that's a mistake anyone could make. I've done stupid – or, weird – well, things like that from time to time, too."

Lucy was grateful for Dinah's words but Sirius just laughed more. "You're cute," he said, kissing her so she knew he meant it. They carried on until someone yelled something about throwing water.

Sirius pulled back and yelled, "Then bring me a butterbeer Rosmerta."

Lucy flushed more, muttering an apology to Dinah.

"Eh," Dinah waved her off, shifting in her seat before popping her last chip into her mouth.

Lucy shoved the remains of her sandwich towards Sirius but finished up the last of her potatoes, "So," she said feeling awkward now.

"Soo..." Dinah seemed to be searching for words to say, "Well, I think I'm going to order a custard tart for dessert. Will you two have anything?"

"Ooh, I think we'll have some apple pie," Lucy said, not giving Sirius a choice. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask me about the class or the students?" Lucy asked after they ordered their desserts.

"I don't think so," Dinah shook her head, "But maybe we'll have more questions for each other after you sit in on one of mine."

"I'm sure we will," she turned to Sirius again, "Can I have my hat back so the students don't have a reason to make fun of their professor?"

"You can have the hat back but I don't think it's going to help. You look odd in hats."

"Which is why I don't normally wear them."

Dinah smiled, "Well, I hope my presence in your class today helped distract the students from your hat at least a little bit."

Lucy laughed, "I'm sure it did. I think inviting you to join in the discussion scared them into participating more. They didn't want to be embarrassed by someone who wasn't even in the class and a professor, no less."

Dinah nodded and then turned to Sirius, "Do you live in Hogsmeade, Sirius?"

"Not yet," he shook his head, "I'm looking for a place to buy around here so we have a place to live during the school year. We've been living at Grimmauld Place in London since the Battle of Hogwarts."

"It'll be nice having him close for easy visits," Lucy said, leaning close to her boyfriend.

Dinah smiled and nodded, "That would be good for both of you, I'm sure. What do you do, Sirius?"

"I walk around, read some, look at houses and apartments, write Harry every so often," he said.

"Um... oh," she said, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Uh, Sirius, I think she meant what sort of job do you have," Lucy said, elbowing him.

"Oh, I don't have a job. My family was obscenely wealthy and I'm the last heir they'd grudgingly acknowledge, me being a blood traitor and all, so it all came to me when my parents and brother died."

"Oh," Dinah sighed and smiled, glad that he wasn't annoyed with her. "Well, I guess it worked out, though. In the long run. You should be able to get a nice place here in the village."

"That's the hope. The couple I've looked at so far have been in worse shape than Grimmauld Place."

Lucy patted his knee, "When you find the right one you'll know. I don't mind fixing up the London place but I'd rather not have to spend my weekends fixing up a place here too."

"Well, best of luck to you," Dinah said, and then placed her fork down after taking her last bite of custard tart and looked at her watch, "Classes start up again in fifteen minutes it seems. We should probably apparate out of here and head back."

"I suppose we should," she'd rather not have to leave Sirius again, but she was determined to convince her heart that he would still be there even if she wasn't around him constantly.

"It was very nice to meet you, Sirius. I guess we might see each other around again," Dinah smiled and extended a hand to him. He reached over and shook it.

"Probably if you two spend more time together outside of Hogwarts," he turned to Lucy, giving her a goodbye peck, "See you this weekend?"

"I think so, I'll let you know if plans change," Lucy told him. She and Dinah apparated from the tavern to just outside the gates of Hogwarts.

"He seems nice," Dinah said.

Lucy hugged herself, smiling as they walked, "I think so."

Dinah smiled, "You seem very close. I hope he finds a place soon for you."

"Me too. I think a combination of us living together and him…" it was sometimes hard for her to think the word let alone say it, "dying helped us to become so close."

Dinah gave a sympathetic nod, "I'm sure everything will work out. That said, we should probably get to our respective classes. But thanks so much for joining me for lunch. I had a good time."

"Me too. I have office hours next so I'm not too worried about getting back on time but I should probably make sure to be there anyway. Just in case one of the students needs something."

"Why don't you come by next Wednesday to sit in on my class? I'm sure you have a lot of grading to do today, like you said. So do I, so I know how that goes. Plus I have another project I'm trying to work on, but you'll know more about that on Monday. Next Wednesday works for you, though?"

"It should work, yes. Oh, but now you've got me curious about your project and I've no time to question you about it."

Dinah grinned, "It's just as well. I'm sort of saving it for a surprise. That is if I can ever finish it. So you'll just have to wait till Monday like everyone else."

Lucy smiled, "Well, I guess I'll have to be patient then. I'll see you later?"

She nodded, "See you later." They separated and headed to their respective destinations.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Lucy sat in her office after lunch with Dinah. She was curious about the project Dinah was working on but she honestly couldn't think of what it could be. Assuming that it had something to do with Muggle Studies could be somewhat insulting. It wasn't as if that was the only thing the other professor could possibly be interested in. Surely she had other interests, not to say she couldn't be working on something to do with Muggles, she just didn't have to be.

Putting Dinah and her project from her mind, her thoughts invariably turned to Sirius. When she was with others it wasn't so bad, she was distracted, her mind didn't go back to that place. The place where everything stopped, where she couldn't start crying because she would never stop…the place where the guilt about what she had done lived.

This was ridiculous. She shouldn't have to feel like some stupid, whiny, 'I can't live without my boyfriend right next to me all the time' character from a novel. She couldn't ever seem to reason herself into believing that he'd be okay out of her sight. It bothered her that she couldn't accomplish that. She wasn't used to failing at things. It just didn't happen to her.

She sighed standing up and looking out the window. She'd seen him Monday. Grant you he was in his animagus form, but still. She'd seen him today, Wednesday, unexpectedly. She'd see him again on Friday night at the earliest or Saturday morning at the latest. She could handle herself until then. During the day she'd have her students and fellow professors and at night she'd have Dora and probably papers to grade and books to review so she'd be fresh for next class. She could do it.

Lucy looked back to her desk. For now she would distract herself by grading papers and helping any student that walked through her door. Looking at her stack of parchments she thought she'd either tackle Hermione's or Luna's first. Hermione's was bound to be long and thorough. She had a feeling Luna's would ramble on a bit but eventually get to the point. Sitting at her desk and picking up her quill she began the task of distracting herself.

* * *

Looking up from another pile of parchments she'd started grading after dismissing her fourth years, Lucy was glad to see it was nearly time for dinner. She'd heard they were having pot roast and mashed potatoes. It wasn't her favorite, but she didn't hate it either and besides it was good comfort food.

A part of her even thought she wouldn't mind if Professor Slughorn miraculously showed up to dinner today…a small part. When she entered the Great Hall she thought that perhaps she shouldn't have allowed her earlier idea about Slughorn. He was, once again, sitting in the seat next to hers looking eager to talk her ear off.

She sat down, surprised when he allowed her to dish out her food before he began the conversation.

"Professor Ketteridge, I heard an interesting rumor about you."

"You did?" Lucy was surprised, as far as she knew she hadn't done anything to cause a rumor to be circulated. "What was it?"

"I'm told you are living with Sirius Black."

Lucy laughed, choking on her drink, "I'm sorry," she said, taking a moment to breathe, "That's not a rumor. Up until Sunday I had been living with him and I still am. I'm staying here for work and all but I'd still consider us living together. In fact Professor Samson and I ran into him today while we were having lunch in Hogsmeade."

"Ah, so you know him well then?"

"I'd like to think so," this was turning into a rather odd conversation.

"Did you know his brother then? Regulus? He was a member of the Slug Club. Fine lad he was."

Lucy frowned. Was he kidding? Hadn't she already told him she hadn't come to Hogwarts until _after_ he'd retired? Surely he could do math. "No, sir, I didn't know him. I was about seven when he was killed."

"Ah, right, right. Well, as I said he was a member of the Slug Club. Wonderfully talented young man he was. I'd hoped to have his older brother too, you know for a matched set, but that wasn't to be. Always hanging out with that trouble maker Potter, he was. The pair of them enjoyed picking on other students. Something most students have to go through I suppose. Anyway, Lily Evans, would give them a piece of her mind. She was particularly talented, even if she was Muggle born."

Dinah's waving at her caught Lucy's eye but she couldn't respond without giving Slughorn something else to talk about. "Ah, well, I…"

"I was wondering, I'm planning on holding a reunion of the Slug Club, do you think you could come, and bring Black with you?"

"Um, well, neither one of us were a part of your club, so I'm not sure…" If he was holding a reunion party that meant Nick would likely be there. Nick, her first boyfriend. Nick, who had been a few years ahead of her and who had only dated her because he'd needed someone to do his homework. He'd also bet one of his friends he could get her to sleep with him. It was his own misfortune that'd he'd picked her. He'd been a Gryffindor and Bill and Charlie had _not_ been pleased when they found out about him.

"That's all right. After all had Black been interested he would have been in the club," after a thoughtful pause he said, "I'm sure you'd have been too if you'd been here while I was teaching. You seem to be academically gifted and you are related to Elladora Ketteridge I assume."

"Um, yeah I am. I guess we can come, depending on when it is." She didn't really want to go and Sirius probably wouldn't either but she didn't see how she could get out of it. Saying no didn't work with this man. "If you don't mind I think I'll be taking my dinner back to my room. I've so much grading to do already and I don't want to get behind."

She hurried away. She didn't think she could have listened to him much longer and she had hardly touched her dinner.

Back in her room, she pushed the food around her plate, only picking at portions of it. At least she'd managed to find time to see Madam Pomfrey. If she hadn't Slughorn would probably have spent the entire dinner hour talking about her forehead. She'd taken off that ridiculous hat after her last class and had immediately run up to the hospital wing.

Sighing, she pushed the entire plate aside. She didn't really have as much grading to do as she'd claimed, but she'd needed some excuse to get away from Slughorn. It surprised her when Dora jumped up on her lap, "Finally decided to come cuddle with me, huh? Realized Sirius isn't going to show up here? The cat looked up at her and meowed. "Yeah, me too Dora, but we shall have to persevere. In any case I could always start reviewing the books my first years will be reading. It's been a long time since I've read those. Should we read them in bed? Hmm?"

Dora seemed to make her decision when she hopped down and then got up on the bed. Lucy laughed, "All right then, just let me change and I'll join you in a minute."

In bed she snuggled down under the covers and Dora curled up next to her hip. Lying like this almost brought her back her years as an Auror. She made it half way through _Happy Snorcacks_ before she fell asleep.

* * *

Lucy couldn't wait for her fourth year class to end. It was Friday and her fourth years were her last class. Unfortunately that class ran right up to dinner, but she was going to be skipping that to pack.

She looked up to see there was only twenty minutes left in class. "All right guys," she said, gaining their attention, "I'll make you a deal. If you read twenty extra pages I'll let you out twenty minutes early."

The students quickly agreed, not that she had any illusions all of them would actually read the twenty extra pages but she could hope. She felt a little like her students as she waited anxiously for them to clear the room so that she could sneak off to her quarters and begin packing.

In her room she threw a couple changes of robes and some pajamas in her overnight bag. Looking around the room she contemplated bringing a book or two. She grabbed a couple books that were sitting on her desk, assuming she'd find _some_ time to read over the weekend.

Professor McGonagall had already taken Dora while Lucy would be away from school and all Lucy had left to do was grab her broom. In ten minutes she stood outside the doors to Hogwarts loading up her bag. A short flight later and she stood at the edge of Hogsmeade.

He hadn't seen her arrive, but then she was earlier than she had told him to expect her. She ran up to him, dropping her broom before she jumped on his back.

He grunted and put his hands under her thighs to help support her weight, "Missed me did you?"

"All the time," she said into his neck. They stayed like that for a few moments, people staring as they were forced to walk around the couple. Eventually Lucy lowered her legs and stood on her own two feet again. She bent down to pick up her broom asking, "Did you find a place yet?"

He shook his head, "Not yet, but we've still got a room at the Three Broomsticks rented. Did you want to go straight there and have dinner sent up or eat first?"

"Let's have something sent up," she'd had enough of public dinners for the week.

"Anything interesting happen since Wednesday?" Sirius asked, once they were up in their room, eating on the bed.

"Not really," Lucy told him, "The kids in my classes generally _want_ to be there so they usually aren't much trouble. I expect Dinah has more problems in her classes. Oh! We did get invited to a Slug Club reunion though. I sort of said we'd go. It's next weekend."

"A reunion? But I wasn't in the Club," Sirius clearly knew what she was referring to, "and Slughorn was gone by the time you started Hogwarts, wasn't he?"

"Yes, but apparently Regulus was in the Club and Slughorn would have liked you to be too but you were too much of a trouble maker, always hanging out with that Potter boy," she said imitating the other professor, "He said something about a matched set. I don't really know. I just said okay to get him to shut up," she paused, "He talks to me. A lot. Through every meal. Well, every meal he comes to anyway."

Sirius took the empty tray and set it down next to the bed, "I suppose if you can sit next to him at meal times then I can endure him for an evening," He perked up, "Does this mean I get to spend the night?"

Lucy laughed, "I don't know." She snuggled up next to him, practically lying on top of him.

"You really don't like being without me, do you?" Seeing as she'd hardly left his side since he'd been reborn this wasn't exactly news.

"No, not really," she sighed. Dinah had said she should talk to Sirius about her fears…perhaps now was as good a time as any. She'd really rather not as it was an emotional topic for her, but constantly being glued to his side couldn't be good for the relationship. "Um, Sirius?"

"Hmm?"

"I think we need to talk," she felt him stiffen slightly at her words, and not in a good way, "Actually I tried to talk to Dinah about it and she suggested that I'd be better served talking to you."

"Everything okay?"

"Don't worry. We're okay," she told him. She'd never thought of Sirius as insecure about their relationship but maybe he was. "It's just," she took a shaky breath. This wasn't going to be easy and she didn't know where to start. "Okay. You know I was in Romania with Charlie when I found out you…you died," she said the last in a whisper. Tears were beginning to form. She knew they'd fall sooner or later. "I wasn't supposed to be there. I mean it was on my way so it was no big deal and I didn't get there until after…Dumbledore had sent me to Turkey so I had to go right by Charlie's to get home. That's not the point though. The point is I was in Turkey, on Dumbledore's orders. It was about a week before I was due to finish up there that I received a message from Dumbledore. He wanted me to come back. Go straight to Grimmauld Place. You were getting restless he said and he thought I could distract you, keep you from doing something stupid," The tears were falling now, "But I was so close to being done. I only needed that last week and everything would be tied up. So I stayed. And then when I got to Charlie's and he told me…" she sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve, while Sirius hugged her tighter. "It wasn't until seven months later, when they let me o—when I came-when it was decided by some higher members of the order, namely Dumbledore, Remus, and Uncle Arthur, that I was ready to do more work for the Order that I found out what and how everything had happened."

Lucy looked down at her hands and began picking at her fingers, when she spoke Sirius had to lean down to hear her, "I should have been there. I was supposed to be there. I almost never disobey orders. I was just so close to finishing up. I didn't think…"

"Hey," Sirius said, pulling her up so they could look at each other, "You don't think that was your fault do you?"

"I was supposed to be there," she repeated.

"You could not have stopped me from going. Harry was in trouble. I was going no matter what. Yes, I wanted out of the house, but that's not why I went. The only thing you could have done if you'd been there is come with me and then you might have been killed instead," he shuddered at the idea, "No. You shouldn't have had to go through what you did after. But you don't have to feel guilty about what happened. I don't _want_ you to feel guilty. Everything worked out in the end, just as it should have been."

"But it doesn't feel that way. I should have been there. I could have done something. I know all the reasons why it probably wouldn't have changed the outcome but it's still the way I feel. You died and I wasn't there. And it's only because of a freak piece of magic no one even knew about that you're back and here with me," Lucy hesitated, she knew she was sounding irrational, "I don't want you to disappear on me again. I don't think I'll be okay next time."

He gathered Lucy back to him, "Hush. Nothing's going to happen to me. You've been without me all week and I'm still here aren't I?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then what's to worry about?"

Lucy shook her head, "You don't understand. I _know_ it's stupid but my head keeps trying to be rational and my heart just says it happened before. My heart wins out because I don't know how to make my head win that fight. And I didn't tell you because I don't want you to think it's your fault or have you believing I blame you. I don't. You didn't do anything."

"I did die."

"Not on purpose. I know if you'd had a choice you'd have stayed. With me. With Harry. That's what my head tells me. My heart says none of that matters."

"You're not used to not being able to use reason and logic to work things out are you? Rest assured I'm staying right here while you're up here. Wherever we happen to end up during breaks we'll be together."

She snuggled closer, feeling very secure for the moment, "Good."

* * *

Lucy woke up alone and not recognizing her surroundings. She sat up straight, heart pounding and gasping for breath when she saw Sirius sitting at the desk going through her books. Everything was okay. She'd just had one of those moments where you forgot where you'd fallen asleep.

He turned when he heard her stirring, holding up a piece of parchment with familiar handwriting on it, "What's this?"

Oh, no. She'd forgotten putting that letter in the book. "It's a letter I should have burned."

"Well, now it's got my name on it so clearly you should have sent it to me."

"No, really. I just sort of dumped on Dinah one night. I was lonely and upset and she suggested talking to you about…well what I told you last night. But you weren't there so I, in my somewhat sleep deprived state, started to write a stupid letter that makes no sense. I woke up late the next morning and just shoved it in a book and forgot about it."

"This isn't what was on your head that day at lunch is it?" he said, eyes crinkling with laughter.

"Um, yes," she felt her face grow warm in embarrassment. That day had proved to be better than the morning had indicated it would be but walking around with ink on your forehead was still embarrassing no matter what.

His laughter made her laugh and they shared a few fun moments, literally, ripping the letter out of each others hands until it was only little pieces all over the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Eventually they made their way downstairs for brunch. They chose a semi-private table near the back. "So, we're going to a Slug Club party? Never been to one of those. I've heard about them though and I'm not looking forward to having to hear how wonderful my family was from Slughorn."

"Now, Regulus might have been misguided at first but it seems like he turned out all right in the end. You need to wear dress robes though. You do have some right?"

"I haven't had the need for dress robes since I went to Azkaban, but don't worry I'm sure I can get some. There must be a clothing store around here. As long as they don't try and force me into those frilly ones. Do _you_ have dress robes?"

"Of course I do," Lucy said. He'd never had an opportunity to see her in anything but her normal everyday robes, "Just you wait and see. You're going to love them."

"How much am I going to love it?"

She smiled, the kind of smile that spoke of intimate things, "So much so that you're probably not going to want to let me out of the room, or at least want to get me back there very quick."

"Mmm," he leaned in to kiss her. Madame Rosmerta had to yell at them to knock it off a couple times before they heard her and separated. "Mmm," he said again, kissing the tip of her nose, "I love you."

Lucy put her hand on his cheek to stop him moving away. Her eyes had to be as wide as they could get, but she must have misheard, "What?" she whispered.

"You heard me," he leaned down until his mouth was next to her ear, "I. Love. You."

She looked around at the rest of the tavern but it seemed no one else was riveted to this momentous occasion in her life. There was a time in life when she never thought she'd even had a chance to hear those words from him. She smiled and said, "Love you too."

He leaned back a bit, smiling broadly. They'd both known how the other felt but neither one had gotten up the courage to say it before. "Anything interesting going on in your classes? Any troublesome students?"

Lucy raised an eyebrow, "That's what you choose to follow "I love you" with? Very romantic."

"There's not much to follow such a thing up with. Unless you'd like me to whisk you upstairs for an afternoon of passion."

Now she rolled her eyes, "No, thank you. And to answer your question I don't think I'll have too much trouble with my students. As my class isn't a required one most of the students in it _want_ to be there so they seem more apt to pay attention. There are a couple I'm keeping my eye on though as one likes to pick on the other but so far it's not been anything too bad. Got any tips to help me keep them inline?"

Sirius shrugged, "I was out of my parents' house so no amount of detention would have got me to quit. James and I used to egg each other on though. So if it's a couple kids ganging up on one you might want to keep that in mind. That and boys will do a lot to save face in front of their friends."

"I'll keep that in mind. Right now I'm hoping they'll be distracted by the quidditch try outs happening this coming week."

"That it should. You'll probably also see a bit less of some of the students and a bunch more not injured enough to be kept in the hospital wing."

She sighed, "Quidditch is such a rough sport."

"Not a fan are you?"

"Yes, I am. I'd just rather my students be in class and uninjured. I tried out for the house team and I didn't make it but I played well enough to help Charlie practice on holidays."

* * *

The rest of the weekend came and went faster than Lucy would have liked. She spent Sunday evening clinging to her boyfriend.

"You know, you could always wait until Monday morning to leave."

She shook her head, "No, I have class first thing and if I stay here I'll end up being late to class."

"Do you think," he said, stroking her hair, "if you told Dumbledore what you told me he'd let me come stay with you?"

Lucy smiled, "Anything to get into bed with me, huh? No, I don't think having you by my side constantly is the answer, no matter how much I might like that. But I will talk to Dumbledore. He already knows some of it seeing as I couldn't do any Order business for a few months…"

"I hate that you had to go through that."

She snuggled in closer to him. Even if he _had_ been a crazy murderer she was convinced with his caring nature it would have been a crime of passion rather than a cold and calculating act, "It was an irrational reaction to an unhappy experience, but it wasn't your fault."

He shrugged, "I still hate it."

She reached up to kiss his chin, "I know and I love you for it." Since yesterday it had become much easier to say such things and she did it all the time.

"You love me for hating something?"

"Yes, because in this case you hate something that hurt me. It shows you care."

"Are you sure you have to leave?"

Lucy groaned. She didn't really want to leave but it was something she'd have to face sooner or later, "Yes, I've already missed dinner and I need to set up for class tomorrow."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you? Even as Snuffles?"

She shook her head, "No. McGonagall already saw you leaving last time. Besides," she said with a secret smile, "I'm taking something with me that should help."

"What? A lock of my hair?"

"God, no. I know people used to find that romantic and what not but I find the practice revolting. That's no different then me giving you a piece of dead skin or a toenail. No, it's not hair. It's something I've already packed away in my bag."

Sirius leaned over to grab her bag, nearly knocking Lucy off the bed. It didn't take him long to find what she was talking about. It was right on top, "My pillow? You've stolen my pillow?"

"Yes," she said grabbing it out of his hands, "and I'm really surprised you didn't notice earlier. I'd certainly notice if my pillow was missing." She stood, shoving the pillow back in her bag, "I've really got to go now. It's past midnight as it is."

"All right," he stood and made ready to escort her outside.

"Kiss me," she demanded once they were outside. He obliged and as usual it was a long time later that they broke apart. The only difference this time was that there was no one yelling at them. "Now, find me a house so we don't have to worry about the people downstairs over hearing us."

"I'll do my best. See you Friday?"

Lucy nodded, she'd forgotten to ask what day the reunion was supposed to take place, "Yes, with your dress robes."

"Of course. I won't disappoint."

"You've yet to disappoint me Sirius."

He gave her a crooked smile, "Go or I'll steal you away upstairs again and then you'll be sacked from Hogwarts."

* * *

Walking into Hogwarts this late felt like she was breaking curfew. The professors didn't have a curfew but still old habits were hard to break. She stashed her broom and was sneaking

Walking into Hogwarts this late felt like she was breaking curfew. The professors didn't have one, still old habits were hard to break. She stashed her broom and was sneaking her way back to Ravenclaw Tower before she realized what she was doing and headed back in the other direction.

She rushed past Mrs. Norris going back down the stairs and was surprised that she didn't run into Filch before she made it back inside her room. Standing in the middle of her bedroom she was suddenly very lonely. Sirius was back in Hogsmeade, Dora was with Minerva, Tonks was at home with her family, Ginny and Hermione were presumably sleeping in Gryffindor Tower, and Dinah…well she didn't know what Dinah's night time habits were but she certainly wasn't going to go find out at this time of night.

Lucy grabbed the pillow out of her bag and crawled into bed without changing. It was times likes these she really missed her mother. Aunt Molly had tried to fill that place in her life but she'd had a family of her own to care for. Maybe if her mother had lived her time at Hogwarts would have been better. Maybe she would have handled Sirius's death better. Certainly her mother wouldn't have had her committed to St. Mungo's against her will. That had really been the last straw in her relationship with her father. He'd taken one look at her after Aunt Molly had informed him of what was happening and hadn't even tried to talk to her, just had her put in the pych ward.

She _wasn't_ crazy. She was just extremely lonely. Back then she'd been trying to deal with an intense amount of grief she hadn't felt since she was eight. Eventually she'd have found her way back to normalcy. Now she was dealing with fear. An emotion that hand in some ways thankfully skipped her when Voldemort had been at his most powerful just a few months ago. She simply hadn't cared if she lived or died, she hadn't been suicidal but she hadn't cared.

She threw the pillow on the floor. Who was she kidding? It wasn't helping. Bellatrix Lestrange was dead. Aunt Molly had killed her. Lucy had seen it with her own eyes. So why was her heart thumping like this? Why couldn't she believe that Bellatrix _wasn't_ coming back to re-do the job she'd done on her cousin?

* * *

By the time her seventh year class came around Lucy wasn't aware of exactly what she was teaching. She'd stayed up, set up her class, went back to her bedroom and watched the sun rise. She went to breakfast beginning to feel like she was sliding back into that catatonic state from before. As far as she knew her fifth years hadn't noticed and she'd spent her office hours staring at a spot on the wall that was vaguely shaped like a dog…very vaguely.

After class was in session for maybe ten minutes at the most, Lucy stood and announced, "I'm sorry everyone; I'm not feeling well at all. I'm sure you're all disappointed but I'll be dismissing class extremely early. I'd like you all to read the next chapter in our current book and write a sixteen inch essay explaining how the text can been seen as a reflection of the author's beliefs."

Most of the students quickly left, not wanting to give her a chance to change her mind. Only Ginny and Hermione hung back. "Lucy?" Hermione hesitated.

It was the use of her first name that drew her attention. Had it come from Ginny she might not have moved, but Hermione hadn't called her anything but Professor Ketteridge since school had started.

"Yes," she said in a monotone.

"Are you alright? You don't seem okay."

She forced her eyes up to meet Hermione's, "Yes, I didn't sleep well last night is all."

"No, Lucy," Ginny said, "I was there when Mum brought you back from Charlie's. You kind of look like you did back then."

"I'm okay."

"No, you're not. I think we should take you to Dumbledore. He'll know what to do."

Both girls had to help her move. They escorted her to the statue that protected the entrance to Dumbledore's office. They just stopped and stared at the stature. Neither one of the girls knew the password and it didn't look as if Lucy would say it on her own. Ginny turned to her cousin, "Um, Lucy? Do you know Dumbledore's password?"

"Pumpkin pops."

The statue didn't respond.

"I don't think that's right, Professor." Hermione said.

The two students stood there, perplexed. Lucy didn't seem to be aware of what the right password was and they couldn't just leave her standing there to find another professor. Dumbledore _might_ happen to come out of his office but there was no guarantee. Both felt relief when Professor McGonagall came up seeming to be on her way to talk to the Headmaster.

"Girls, shouldn't you be in class?"

"We would Professor, but Professor Ketteridge dismissed us early," Hermione explained.

"I think there's something wrong with her," Ginny added, "We're trying to take her to see Dumbledore but I don't think she knows the password. We asked her but when she told us what it was the statue didn't move."

Minerva looked at the other professor. She hadn't spoken or even moved since she'd come upon the threesome. "Oh, dear. Why don't you run along girls? I'll take care of this."

"She'll be alright?" Ginny asked.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. I'll be sure to let you know when there's something to know. After all you are her family."

Minerva waited until the girls were out of hearing range before she said, "Raging Kneazles." The statue leapt aside and she led Lucy up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.

Without waiting for Dumbledore to give them permission to enter, Minerva took the younger professor by the arm and brought her to sit in front of the desk.

"Ah, Minerva. It would seem that Professor Ketteridge is having some problems adjusting to teaching."

"Is that what you call it? I seem to recall telling you that having her come here to teach was not a good idea."

"That you did. However, allowing her to hide away with Sirius in Grimmauld Place would only have made the problem worse. Lucy would not have accepted the position here if she had not wanted to teach and I believe that her class does hold value."

"I'm not disputing that, but I think it was too soon."

"Perhaps we aught to ask Lucy what she thinks. Lucy?" he politely waited until she met his gaze, "Do you think it was too soon for you to be teacher?"

"No," she whispered. "I think…I think I need this, but I don't know how…I'm afraid, so afraid."

"See there Minerva? She thinks she was ready to start teaching. Now, Miss Ketteridge, what is it exactly that you are so afraid of?"

"That he's going to die. Always. Constantly. Every moment I'm not with him I'm afraid. I think that Bellatrix Lestrange is going to come after him…"

"You know she's dead. She can't come back and go after Sirius. Luckily for us she was not granted a revival."

"I know," Lucy murmured, her eyes filling with tears, "I'm not crazy. I'm _not_. I wasn't before and I'm not now."

"All right, all right," Dumbledore said soothingly.

"But it feels like I am! I can't stop those thoughts and I didn't sleep at all last night. I don't know how to make this better. I _want _to but I can't. I keep thinking if I had just listened to you all those years ago…" she seemed to be coming out of her stupor.

"What do mean?" he had an idea of what she was talking about, but talking was also good for relieving one's conscience.

"I didn't listen when you told me to come back. I stayed in Turkey and I _know_ all the reasons why it doesn't matter that I didn't come back. I've already talked to Sirius about this, but I still feel like I should have been here."

"And I'm sure he told you it turned out best that you weren't here?"

"Yes."

"In that case I think perhaps the solution to your problem lies in learning to be without him for smaller amounts of time rather than all at once."

"I was just with him all weekend," Lucy wasn't sure exactly what Dumbledore's plan was but she was willing to listen. He'd yet to steer her wrong.

"It is possible that because you talked to him about how you felt about his death that you've stressed yourself out and that's why you're feeling this way today. However, I think for now, I would not be adverse to him coming here a couple nights a week. How does that sound?"

"I think that sounds wonderful. It's not going to solve everything right away but I don't think anything would," Lucy stood ready to go back downstairs, "Oh, I promised Sirius I'd ask, but Professor Slughorn invited us to a Slug Club reunion this weekend. I'm not sure why, but I couldn't get out of it so Sirius and I are going. We were wondering though…would it be alright if he stayed here for the weekend? With me?"

"I think, for one weekend it would be alright. Though I assume you know to try and keep the students from finding out."

"Yes, of course, Sir."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Lucy went back to her room and laid down until lunch. When she woke Lucy felt like she'd slept some but wasn't completely refreshed yet. As she sat down and grabbed a chicken sandwich from the platter she felt grateful that Slughorn had skipped this meal. She supposed he was a rather nice man with good intentions but she just wasn't up to trying to be polite to him.

She noticed Ginny and Hermione staring at her. She smiled to let them know she was all right but she half expected a visit from them later and not about the assigned homework either.

On her way back to the classroom she almost ran into Dinah.

"Oh, hello." Dinah smiled, "I noticed there was no Slughorn at lunch today. Must be nice. How was your weekend?"

Lucy smiled back. _See_, she told herself¸_ you can be normal._ "Emotional. I talked to Sirius like you said and it was…emotional, but other than that it was good. How was yours?" She hadn't seen Dinah all weekend, but then just because she hadn't been in Hogsmeade didn't mean she'd stayed at Hogwarts either.

"Good," Dinah replied, "I visited my parents in London. I hadn't seen them in awhile and of course they wanted to know all about my classes and such. But I'm glad you were able to talk to Sirius. It went well, I presume?"

Lucy wondered how much she should tell her. Her little episode from this morning would probably get around the school eventually but she didn't want to risk having Dinah look at her like she was a crazy person either. She enjoyed having a new friend that didn't know much about her past, her father and what he'd done not too long ago. "Um, yeah. We're working on my issues. Talking about them didn't make them magically disappear but he knows about it now and I'm doing my best. My sleep's still messed up and I spend a lot of my alone time worrying but Sirius knows and Dumbledore knows so it'll help I think. Sorry, I'm babbling again."

"It's okay," Dinah smiled slightly. She didn't seem to be bothered much by Lucy's nervous babbling "I'm glad things are better. And it's only been a few days, I'm sure they'll continue to improve. But I've got to get to class now. My afternoon is one hundred percent full."

Lucy laughed, glad she wasn't suffering the same fate as her friend, "Happily, I at least have a break and an office hour, but then my classes are smaller than yours. Anyway, good luck with the rest of your afternoon. I'll see you around."

Dinah politely bid her good-bye and Lucy went on to her room, putting up a note indicating office hours were canceled for the day, and going to her bedroom to take her final nap until nightfall.

* * *

Lucy yawned as dinner started. She'd gotten some sleep, enough to teach her remaining classes, but she was still ready for bed once dinner was over. She'd kept herself awake during her break by writing to Sirius about Dumbledore's plan and that he'd given permission for him to stay the weekend.

She nearly knocked her drink over onto Professor Slughorn when Dumbledore's voice demanded attention from the entire Great Hall.

"Attention all students. I'm sure many of you are wondering why dinner was made mandatory. Well, we have something rather unique going on today. Our own Professor Samson of our newly redesigned Muggle Studies course has crafted a short survey that we are requesting all Muggle-born witches and wizards to fill out."

This must have been the project Dinah had alluded to at lunch last week. Lucy leaned forward eager to hear more and making shushing motions towards Slughorn.

"The survey should not take long, but we are going to give you a week to complete it as I know you all have other homework assignments, classes, and the like. So you will all come to another mandatory dinner session next Monday to turn your surveys in. Now, all of you who are Muggle-born should appreciate this as a great opportunity to make a difference in how the wizarding world perceives Muggle-born witches and wizards as well as the Muggle society which you grew up in. I believe this will be a very positive experience for each of you. Those of you who are not Muggle-born," he continued, "I realize it may be disappointing that you don't have a survey to take also," he smiled, his eyes twinkling, and some of the students laughed. "However, believe me when I say that this will benefit you as well in the long run.

"You will be using these specially-assigned lie-detector quills to ensure that your surveys are truthful, but I suspect that won't be a problem with most of you either way. The quills are also enchanted with an auto-answer spell for a question about your parents' financial income. The pen will answer this on its own for demographic purposes but you will be unable to see the answer, in case your parents wish for you not to know. Because financial information will be provided on the survey, your names are optional. Now, everyone who is Muggle born please come up and collect a parchment from Professor McGonagall."

Lucy looked on as a great deal of students walked up to Minerva to receive a survey. She hadn't realized just how many Muggle borns there were in the school. She'd known there where a number of them and she generally didn't consider herself prejudiced against them but she'd honestly thought the number of Muggle borns lower than what it apparently was. Dinah caught her eye and smiled. The other professor had certainly created a buzz in the room. Hopefully that had been the reaction she desired.

She spent the rest of dinner trying to make polite conversation with Minerva in between Slughorn's comments about anything and everything. She suspected the deputy headmistress had been asked to keep an eye on her but she wasn't going to do anything stupid.

When she saw Dinah leave the Great Hall, Lucy went out after her, wanting to talk. She tapped the other professor on the shoulder so she didn't frighten her. "Well, that was a surprise!"

"Indeed it was," a more subdued voice said behind Dinah. She didn't see her former potions master come up behind Dinah and flinched when he spoke unexpectedly.

"So glad you think so," Dinah replied.

The man had given her the creeps when she was a student. Now, he scared her. Lucy was positive the main reason for his dislike of her was her relationship with Sirius. Perhaps at some point she'd gather her courage to go down to the dungeons and talk to him about that. "Well," she gave him a swift, nervous nod, "Professor Snape. Um, I'm going to head back then, Dinah. I'm sure we'll talk later."

She hurried off to bed, hoping it didn't look like she was running away, even though that's exactly what she was doing.

* * *

Her third year class and lunch passed by uneventfully, but she was concerned over what her first years would bring. Nothing much had actually happened but she'd sensed a tension between Andrew Speasy and Porter Lee. That along with few passing comments she was sure had bothered Speasy but weren't anything she could really yell at Lee about.

"Good afternoon class!" she said as the students took their seats. "Now, I know it's only been a week and no one's seen their parents yet, but have any of you been able to get a hold of some Muggle fairy tales?" Mae Yates's hand shot into the air. "Yes, Miss Yates?"

"I don't have a copy of it but Cinderella is my _favorite_ fairy tale. I could tell it to the class if you'd like."

"That would be wonderful," she truly enjoyed having Mae in her class. The girl was so enthusiastic about reading and it reminded Lucy of the way she'd been as a child. Like Mae she could have recited her favorite tales word for word. "I'd like the rest of the class to take notes so we can discuss the tale after Mae is done telling it to us."

A snort came from the back of the room, "This is stupid. Why do we have to listen to fairy tales. They're baby stories and Muggle ones at that."

"Mr. Lee that is rude and disrespectful. There is nothing wrong with Muggles, or by extension, Muggle borns. Fairy tales are a bit young for your age group, I agree but there is worth and value in these tales. Aside from that such fables are old enough that they existed before the Statute of Secrecy went into effect. Because of this we might be able to tell some ways in which the stories changed after the societies were separated."

Porter Lee slumped down in his chair, glaring at her. She was sure she hadn't really made any difference in his opinion but at least she had defended the integrity of her teaching style. "I'd like to see you after class for a moment Mr. Lee."

In the middle of the class, near Mae, a Slytherin boy turned and sniggered at Lee.

"Shut up, Sneazy!"

"I'm not the one staying after class, Lee!"

"Hey, hey!" Lucy interrupted, "Both of you need to knock it off before you find yourselves in detention. Now, we are going to sit quietly while Miss Yates tells us the story of Cinderella. Those of us unfamiliar with the story should be taking notes."

After Mae finished the tale with a traditional 'They lived happily ever after' there was only fifteen minutes left in class. "All right, I think all of us can see that there are plenty of magical elements in the story. I'd like you all to write an essay for me discussing what the magical elements in this story were and how you feel about them. I'd like it to be at least twelve inches and it's due next Tuesday. I'll see you all Thursday," she said dismissing the class.

Porter walked up to her desk after everyone had left. He met her eyes defying her to tell him he'd been wrong earlier. "Mr. Lee you know you were out of line earlier."

"So, it's okay for you and Professor Samson to teach us your opinions but we're not allowed to have any of our own?"

"Of course you are, but that doesn't mean you should be voicing them in class. I don't expect you to agree with everything I say. In fact, as far as this class is concerned there is more of a grey area as far as right and wrong go. I wonder though you seem to not enjoy reading much. If you dislike learning about literature so much I wonder why you are in this class? It's not required after all."

Porter shuffled his feet on the ground, no longer looking her in the eye. "I don't _mind_ reading, but I only took this class 'cause Mum told me I had to."

Lucy sighed, she wasn't really sure how to answer that. She'd like all the students in her class to want to be there but she couldn't kick a student out and she certainly didn't want to make him feel bad about his mother making him take the class. "Porter, I'm willing to work with you, but you've got to meet me halfway. You don't have to agree with everything I say, but you _do_ need to do your work and contribute non-insulting ideas to the conversation. Now, you'd best be running along or you'll be late to your next class."

As she moved into her office she could only hope she'd made some progress with Porter Lee.

* * *

Lamb chops. Lamb chops were being served for dinner tonight. Lucy hated lamb chops. She picked at the various side dishes before leaving the Great Hall. She'd noticed Dinah hadn't been there and it seemed the entire staff was in a rather depressed sort of mood. She knew what was bothering her, but put the mood of the rest of the staff down to a change in the weather. Judging from the way the sky in the Great Hall had looked it was going to rain soon.

Slipping out a side door she made her way to an area of the grounds where no one was around and it was unlikely she'd be seen by anyone in the castle. It only took a moment for her to change into her fox form.

She wandered out towards the taller grasses as cold rain drops began to fall. She should have found some shelter before it rained but the Forbidden Forest would have been her best bet for that and she didn't think it'd be a good idea for her to go in there as she was.

The darker it got the faster the rain fell. If she didn't get to shelter she'd surely catch a cold but at the moment she was rather enjoying the rain. It made her look utterly pathetic she knew but with her fur she stayed warm enough. It'd been a while since she'd been in this form and so she didn't notice the other creature nearby like she should have. In fact she didn't know it was there until she was picked up by the scruff of her neck.

Lucy struggled for a bit, cursing herself for being too stupid to use the senses she'd been given. She was finally put down close to the main entrance. When she looked back she saw that it was Snuffles who'd carried her back towards shelter. He pushed her with his nose, telling her to get herself back into dry warmth before she caught pneumonia. Or at least she assumed that's what he meant. She took a couple steps and stopped. When he pushed her with his nose again she jerked her head towards the steps.

There was someone sitting there.

When Lucy looked closer she saw that it was Dinah. And she didn't look like she'd be going in any time soon. She sat down to wait. Snuffles laid down behind her, close enough for her to feel his warmth and also so that his big black body might partially conceal her smaller red one.

Why would she be out here all alone in the rain? It was enough to make Lucy slightly concerned about the Muggle studies professor. After awhile a dark figure with an umbrella came and stood next to Dinah. The little fox took that as a sign her friend would be alright and she stood to find another door to enter the castle through, Snuffles dutifully following her.

Sneaking into the castle wasn't nearly as hard as she'd thought it'd be. Though they did leave behind them two sets of muddy paw prints. The mud had disappeared by the time they'd gotten close to Lucy's room though and anyone who was interested in finding the animals would only be led to another door leading to the outside.

At her door Lucy sniffed around to make sure no one was near before transforming herself back into her human form. Sirius kindly waited until she had opened the door and let both of them in before he did the same.

"What were you doing wandering around out there?" Sirius asked, shaking the water off himself in a very animalistic manner.

"I just felt like going out," she said grabbing a towel for her hair, "What do you think Dinah was doing sitting out in the rain like that?"

"Maybe she just felt like going out. Like you."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Well, at least she wasn't alone," the back of her neck was sore from where he'd grabbed her and she rubbed it gently, "You didn't have to pick me up like that you know. Why did you come over tonight anyway? I thought I wrote that Wednesday would be okay."

"You did write that. Tomorrow would have been fine except for what happened yesterday."

Her eyes narrowed, "Yesterday? I didn't write anything about yesterday. How did you find out?"

"I got more than just your letter last night."

"Ginny!"

"Ginny and Hermione and Dumbledore. In separate letters. They're worried about you. Why didn't you tell me it was that bad?"

She sat down heavily in the nearby chair. She hadn't wanted him to know. That's why she didn't say anything. "That was…that wasn't normal. I haven't been that bad since you've come back. Really. They shouldn't have told you. I know Dumbledore thinks it's a good idea for you to come here every couple days and…and…" she stopped to take a breath, getting upset wouldn't be helpful, "I shouldn't need you to help me. I should be able to do it on my own."

"You said you wanted me here."

"Of course I do! And I think it will help me sleep, feel more secure, but I also think I shouldn't need you here every minute of every day. That's how it feels sometimes, like I need that."

* * *

Sirius realized something then. Since the age of nine Lucy had had virtually no one to help her with her problems. Molly and Arthur had tried but they'd lived far enough away that it hadn't helped much. She was used to being on her own. He knew what that was like. Besides the other Marauders and James's parents he hadn't had much of anyone to help him either.

"Lucy," he sighed, "You don't know how to accept help do you?"

"What do you mean?"

He sighed again and picked her up, sitting in the chair before replacing her on his lap. "You can't do everything on your own you know. Friends, and especially boyfriends, are for leaning on when you need help. I'm not going to be here every minute of every day. Just enough to take the edge off, so to speak."

"I don't want to need help," she whispered, laying her head on his shoulder, "I never used to be like this. I used to be able to function on my own. I used to be fairly independent. I want to be normal." She said the last so softly that he thought he was only able to hear her because her face was close to his ear.

He wound his fingers through her hair. How did one respond to the pleas of someone desiring to be normal? "I love you," he said, "and I don't care if you're loonier than Trelawney. I'll be here whenever you need me. Rest assured I'm not going anywhere."

"You can't know that."

"Yes, I can," he said with complete confidence, "Do you really think I would have been brought back here only to be killed again?"

"No, but-"

"No buts. Now we are going to get out of these wet robes and get into bed."

"Alright."

He thought about making some teasing remark, but her tone told him she was already half asleep. She was shivering before he could get her into bed and asleep before he joined her.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

When she woke Lucy couldn't breathe. Her head ached and her nose was stuffed. She groaned. She just had to get a cold from last night didn't she? And she didn't even have the luxury of staying in bed and sleeping the cold away. She could stay in bed through breakfast but that would only give her and extra hour of sleep.

"Feeling better today?"

She hadn't expected Sirius to still be there, but she cracked one eyelid to see him sitting in a chair, Dora in his lap as usual. "No," she said, knowing she sounded horrible.

"Oh, you do sound bad. Guess you shouldn't have gone out last night, huh?"

"Shut up," she said getting out of bed and dressing. "Not to sound like I want you to leave, but shouldn't you be gone by now?"

"Probably, but I wanted to be here when you woke up."

She turned to stare at him, "I'm up."

"My, you're testy when you don't feel well. Now that you're up and on your way to breakfast," he said, ushering her towards the door, "I can discretely make my way off the grounds."

"Alright," she replied, hugging him. She'd rather kiss him, but he didn't need her germs, "Just be careful. "

"Always am."

She was determined that was the last she'd see of Sirius until Friday. After all today was Wednesday so she really only had Thursday to get through. She'd seen him today and she'd be seeing him Friday so she didn't think she should have to count those days.

Today she had other things to focus on besides worrying about Sirius. She had sitting in on Dinah's class to look forward to. Then there was always trying to explain her behavior of Monday to her seventh years…

Other than those two events her day passed fairly quickly. Her seventh years had avoided her gaze until she told them that she must have been coming down with her current cold on Monday which explained why she'd been rather out of it. Only Hermione and Ginny gave her odd looks, knowing that wasn't at all the case.

By the time five o'clock came around Lucy was tired and achy, but at least she hadn't lost her voice yet. She'd had an interesting time trying to explain her sudden cold to various staff members, including Slughorn, who thought that she hadn't been outside in the rain last night. There was no reason for them to think she had been. After all, no one had seen her leave, nor spotted her on the grounds that night.

She walked to Dinah's classroom, knocking on the open door, "Dinah?"

The other professor looked up from her desk and smiled, "Hi, Lucy. Glad we're still on for you to sit in on my seventh year class."

Maybe she looked better than she felt. "Yeah, me too. I've been looking forward to this all day."

She beamed, "Really? Well, then I hope I don't disappoint. By the way, do you know a student named Tommy? Or Thomas or Tom maybe?"

Lucy smiled, thinking that wasn't that much of an unusual name, "I know three. What's his last name?"

Dinah frowned, "You know, I don't know."

She laughed, "Well, then I can't really help you much."

"I think he's a second year," Dinah said.

Lucy shook her head, "I know fourth, sixth and seventh years."

"No, it couldn't be them," Dinah said, "I think I know the fourth and seventh years you mean, and then there's the sixth...no, the boy I'm thinking of is young. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was a first year, and there's no way he could be older than third. Well, never mind, I guess it's not important. How's your week been?"

"Um, okay," Lucy hedged. If she was asking that then Dinah hadn't heard about what happened on Monday yet and she'd no desire to tell her. "I think I caught a cold from that rain last night," she sneezed, "I heard you're coming to Slughorn's little reunion thing he's having."

"Bless you," Dinah said, looking glad she wasn't suffering Lucy's fate. "Yes, I'm going. It should be...interesting. He told me he'd convinced you to bring Sirius."

"Thank you." Great now her nose was stuffed again and she thought she sounded like a man. "Yeah, he sort of wouldn't let me leave until I'd told him we'd go. Even though neither one of us was in his club. I talked to Dumbledore though and he's allowing Sirius to stay the whole weekend so that'll be nice."

Dinah's face fell as Lucy watched. "Oh no."

Lucy cocked her head to the side, confused, "You seem disappointed. I thought the two of you got along well enough during that lunch."

"Oh, no," Dinah waved it off, embarrassed, "I'm sorry, that came out all wrong. I did get along fine with Sirius at lunch, he seems very nice. It's just that Severus said-"

"Wait, Severus?" Lucy cut in, surprised, "You and Professor Snape are on a first name basis now?"

Dinah flushed a deep crimson. She couldn't be serious. "Apparently we are," she agreed, and soon after a few figures wandered into the room, "Oh, look! Class is starting. I'd better get ready. Just sit wherever and I'll introduce you when everybody comes in." Still red, she hurried up to her desk.

Lucy wandered over to a desk on the side of the room. Dinah's blushing made her wonder. Could the Muggle Studies professor have a crush on Professor Snape? Now that was a disturbing thought. Distracted, she waved at Ginny and Luna when they sat down near by.

"What are you doing here?" Ginny whispered.

"Just sitting in on the class. Observing. No big deal," she replied. "I understand I have you to thank for a certain someone's appearance last night?"

Her cousin had the grace to look embarrassed, "I thought he should know."

"Maybe so, but I never told him exactly how bad I got the first time. Now he's more worried than he should be. By the way _no one_ is to know about what Father did."

"I wouldn't tell anyone that. That's up to you."

"I didn't really think you would but I just thought it could do with saying."

Lucy sat back in her seat as Dinah stood to begin the class.

"Welcome back, everyone. As some of you may remember from last week if you were in Professor Ketteridge's literature class, I sat in on it. Today, Professor Ketteridge is returning the courtesy by sitting in on one of mine. So please, Professor, feel free to join in the discussion if you'd like."

"Thank you. I don't know how much I'll be able to contribute, not being terribly familiar with the Muggle world myself, but I'll do my best."

"Don't worry, I think you'll fit in well today," Dinah smiled, "We're talking about a topic that should be easy to follow for everyone. Now as you all recall we were discussing the teacher Jane Elliot's study on discrimination between blue-eyed and brown-eyed students. As you all saw in your initial readings, she has been highly criticized for performing this study. Does anyone have any ideas why? Ms. Lovegood?"

"Well," Luna began in her soft, unassuming voice, "I think people's initial reaction would be negative because the children she performed the exercise on were so very small. I think the natural human protective instinct looks at the children being put through this situation and focuses on the bullying they received rather than the ultimate purpose of the study, and people are just appalled that she made the children suffer so much."

Lucy nodded, agreeing with her. Given Luna's general behavior and way of speaking it was easy to forget that she could come up with some rather astute observations

"That's a very good point, and I think it's absolutely true," Dinah nodded, looking impressed with Luna's observations. "Any other reasons?"

A Gryffindor boy whom Lucy was unfamiliar with raised his hand, "Didn't the readings also say that she usually put brown-eyed people down as superiors first, and that brown-eyed people were more often races that were discriminated against anyway. They kept saying she was secretly favoring minorities the whole time, so that would make the study invalid?"

"Yes, and there are plenty of points in favor of that, too. From that we can also see that sometimes there are correlations between different types of labels people can receive. I think that – yes, Miss Claverdon?"

When a Slytherin girl in the back row frowned at Dinah, Lucy began to realize just how many students she didn't know. She'd known she had far fewer students in her class than those who taught required subjects in an abstract sort of way and now she was getting to see more of the dynamics of the school. Thinking about that she sat back to listen, "Why do we keep talking about all of this difference stuff? I thought Muggle Studies was supposed to be concerned with learning about the Muggle world. When are we going to start doing _that_?"

Dinah smiled a bit. "I realize that might be confusing for some of you. But rest assured, it all relates. Plus, we're not even a full two weeks into the year yet. I just want to make you aware of these difference issues in the beginning so that you keep them in mind when we start talking about Muggle artifacts and the Muggle lifestyle."

She shrugged, "I guess so."

"Besides," Dinah said, "We are learning about Muggle society in these discussions. We are becoming aware of the fact that Muggles have their own prejudices and diversity issues that they have had to work through, just as we have in our society. And the readings I'm going to assign today will hopefully give you a better idea of some more of those issues and how they have and have not been handled. Then we can compare and contrast them with issues we face in the magical world.

"Now I'd like to change the subject a bit and ask you all a question. After the discussions we've had thus far about differences, do you think some differences are better or have more meaning than others or is it just the way we choose to _look_ at differences that affects things?"

Lucy raised her hand and waited for Dinah to acknowledge her before speaking, "I think it's the way we choose to look at the differences. I mean I think it's human nature to want to categorize yourself and the things around you. To some it's a way to show how they're better than others but then there are those who use it only as a way of identifying themselves. Personally if you asked me to identify myself I would tell you I'm a pureblood but at the same time I don't feel that makes me any better or worse than someone who isn't pureblood. It's simply what I am, it's a way for you to differentiate me from another. Not that you could tell that by looking at someone," she paused to collect her thoughts.

She was babbling again, but she thought she had something good going, "This might be a bit off topic but just bear with me. There's this school of thought in literary theory called semiotics, one of the things they talk about is meaning as difference. They say that words mean what they are not. Basically, the word cat doesn't inherently mean cat. It means not dog, rat, horse, etc. All that to say, I think it's really all about how one defines the categorizations for themselves. Do they have an inherent meaning or are they just identifying what they are not?" Lucy took a large breath. She'd babbled again…in front of the students too.

Lucy looked around at the students trying to get down the ideas she'd just presented before they forget them. Most looked unsure if they were supposed to be writing this down or not.

Dinah smiled looking pleased they were doing so. "Thank you, Professor. You raise many interesting points. And don't worry, off topic is just fine. I like to try to integrate many different disciplines into exploring these issues whenever I can. After all, there are many different ways to look at the world. And that sort of connects to my next point as well.

"I also think that there is nothing wrong with categorizing ourselves per se. After all, people all want some sort of identification, some sort of way to individualize themselves. And this world would be rather boring if we were all the same. For example, if you look at some aspects of race relations in the Muggle world, there are folks who say 'equality' means treating everybody the same and ignoring differences. Then there are groups, usually the minority groups concerned, who retort that they wish to maintain their ethnic culture as a label, and equality means embracing those differences and accepting them for what they are. The phrase 'celebrate diversity' is becoming popular in some Muggle social circles as of late.

"But I'd like to point out as well that there are many more ways than one in which to categorize a person. For example, Professor Ketteridge says that if someone asked her to identify herself she would tell you she's a pureblood. But I think her answer to simply "identify yourself" would in reality be much more complex than that. Is pureblood the first thing that would come to her mind in that case? Perhaps, but Professor Ketteridge is also many other things. She is a woman, a witch, she is British, she's a teacher... which of these items is most important for describing Professor Ketteridge, do you think?"

"Well, you can't possibly put such things into a rank order of importance!" Ginny Weasley said, causing Lucy to smile.

"Exactly!" Dinah grinned, "So you see we've come full circle. Professor Ketteridge's literary 'semantics' ... sorry, I forgot the word," Dinah flushed and shot Lucy a slightly apologetic look, "All of those labels together create a very individualized identity for each person, in which it is more difficult to say what a person 'is' but it becomes rather clear what they are not. Namely, they are not anyone but their self. And a self can be many different things depending on context and situation, while still being ultimately one whole that is not identical to any other."

"It was semiotics in case anyone was worried about getting that down. There's this quote I remember from a Muggle book I happened across awhile ago. It sort of deals with identity and self categorization but it's kind of long and convoluted so I'm not sure you'd want me to repeat it. Though I would agree that a pureblood is not all of what I am just a part of it. We are, each and every one of us, the product of those who came before. And that's not the quote in case anyone was wondering."

"Please, we have time," Dinah smiled, writing down what Lucy assumed was the word semiotics before saying, "Go ahead and share the quote with us."

"All right. It's from the book Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. 'I no longer want to be anything except what who I am. Who what am I? My answer: I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I've gone which would not have happened if I had not come. Nor am I particularly exceptional in this matter; each "I", every one of the now-six-hundred-million-plus of us, contains a similar multitude. I repeat for the last time: to understand me, you'll have to swallow a world'.

"I think what he's saying is that we all affect each others lives. We are what we are because each of us has influenced the lives of others along the way and it's sort of a chain reaction that goes to everyone and everything down through time."

"Well," Dinah said, pleasantly surprised and a little overwhelmed as the students tried to write this down. "Thank you, Professor Ketteridge. That was a beautiful quote and I think it really summarizes what I'm trying to get across here. Don't worry about writing all of that, students," she stopped the students from scribbling down the quote. Probably so they could adsorb the message of it rather then the specific words. "Just make sure you understand the basics of what our literature professor just said. Yes, Mr. Fladbury?"

The Hufflepuff boy lowered his hand, "So is it okay to call ourselves pureblood then? Because in the first class period you said we should try to just call ourselves 'people' more than those sorts of labels."

Dinah laughed. Lucy was glad someone was able to bring them back to more concrete ideas. She enjoyed abstract thinking but it could be hard to understand for those unused to do things that way. "Well, I honestly think it's all about balance. We should accept and embrace differences but we should also never forget the things that make us all similar. As far as calling yourself pureblood, I think as Professor Ketteridge implied, it really all depends on the tone in which you say it."

Lucy nodded, speaking up again, "To me personally saying I'm pureblood is no different than describing me as pale skinned, brown eyed, or ginger haired. It's just a part of who I am."

"Good. Thank you for stimulating the discussion for us, Professor Ketteridge," Dinah smiled, "And with that, I think its time to hand out your reading assignments for this weekend. There are a number of them so we won't discuss them until next week." She grabbed stacks of four different papers and began handing them out. "All of these are Muggle works on the subjects of differences and diversity. Two of the articles look at race relations and slavery issues from two very different parts of the world. One discusses the European Holocaust of the 1940s, which I regret to say is rather similar to what Voldemort was trying to do recently. And the final one is a rather fun, interesting paper about gender relations in Japan.

"I encountered it in one of my Asian studies courses at Muggle university. It takes one of the most fundamental differences we know – that of male vs. female – and attempts to turn it on its end by arguing for and against "gender neutral" behavior, which suggests such things as eliminating things that are gender specific, up to and including letting boys wear dresses if they want to." Some of the students giggled and she smiled, "Rather silly sounding, I know, but this issue is beginning to be seriously considered in various parts of the world. I have mixed feelings on the whole thing, but go ahead and read the summary and then decide what you think. No write-ups yet, just read the papers and think about them. Okay, dismissed."

Lucy waited until the students left, waving at Luna and Ginny when they turned to go, before she went up to talk to Dinah. "That was pretty interesting. Sorry for talking so much. I get an idea and that leads into another and another and I sometimes don't realize I should stop talking and let others have a chance too."

"It's okay, it always happens when you're trying to get a point across about something you care about. I do it, too," Dinah smiled, "Besides, you made a lot of interesting points. I'm glad you found my lecture engaging. I felt bad because you didn't really know anything about the study I was talking about."

"Oh, that's okay," Lucy waved her comment off, "After all it's not like you had any idea what I was talking about in my class. I know you might not need to take me up on this but if you ever need to bounce around ideas for your class or even just get the perspective of a relatively unprejudiced pureblood you can always ask me."

"Great, that would be nice. Same here too, of course, although I don't know how much I could help you. By the way, have you heard from Slughorn about what day and time that party is supposed to be? I haven't yet."

"No, but if he's at dinner tonight I'll try to get it out of him…if he'll let me speak that is. I understand his parties are formal? I hope so because I already told Sirius he had to get some dress robes."

"All the ones I've been to have been," Dinah shrugged. "So I'd assume so, yes."

Lucy sighed and started walking with Dinah towards the Great Hall, "It should be interesting. Especially if Nick shows up."

"Nick?"

"Um, yeah. Old boyfriend. He was four years older than me. It didn't end well and I'm hoping he won't be there. He probably will be though. My luck's like that sometimes."

"Ah, I see. Yeah, that could be awkward," they made it into the Great Hall, where a dinner of chicken and broccoli casserole was being served. Dinah spied Severus and flushed slightly again. "Well, I guess this is where we separate. Let me know what you hear from Slughorn, okay? If he gives you the date and time you can just tell him you'll give me the message. He doesn't need to come find _both_ of us and talk our ears off."

Lucy smiled, nodding, "I will if he'll let me. Enjoy your dinner." She headed to her side of the table where Slughorn was already sitting. Happily anticipating her arrival it seemed.

* * *

"Ah, Professor Ketteridge, there you are!" The potions professor said by way of greeting.

Lucy grinned, she was in a rather cheerful mood despite her cold, "Yes, here I am."

"I was wondering if you'd come to dinner tonight. I just finalized plans for the party and wanted to tell you it's going to be Saturday at four in the afternoon, with dinner to follow, in my rooms. You know where they are?"

"Yes, yes I do. I'll let Professor Samson know about when and where the party is so you don't have to try and track her down."

"Thank you. You and Sirius are coming then I take it?"

"We'll be there. I already told Sirius and instructed him to buy himself some dress robes."

"Good good," Slughorn started scooting away from her, "Are you well? You sound horrible."

Lucy sniffed, she'd been hoping he hadn't noticed her voice, "I'm fine. I just caught a cold from last night's rain. With teaching all day I'm starting to lose my voice. Don't worry though I'm sure I'll be well enough to attend your party."

"Right, well, I think I'll just take this up to my room and eat there."

She smiled as she watched the other professor get up and rush out of the room. Now she knew one way to get Horace Slughorn to leave her alone. A sniffle or two seemed to make him desperate to get away.

* * *

Last night had been a good night. She probably should have gone to tell Dinah then but she hadn't. She'd graded papers instead. Now she was anxious and thinking too much, which made her feel twitchy and she was more prone to babbling.

Standing in front of Dinah's door after Thursday night's dinner she shifted from foot to foot, chewed on her lip and debated whether or not she should knock on the door.

"Okay, if that's how it is, then," Dinah's voice said with a laugh, and Lucy turned to see her walking down the hall with Professor Snape.

Lucy almost forgot about her thoughts when she heard Dinah laughing and saw who she was laughing with. Professor Snape was _not_ someone you would think anyone would be walking and laughing with. Of course, she'd hardly exchanged two words with the man since beginning work here. She'd have to rectify that at some point.

"Good night," Dinah said.

Professor Snape just gave a sharp nod and headed down a different hall towards the dungeons. Dinah, still smiling, turned back and spied Lucy, "Lucy! I'm sorry, were you waiting around long?"

"Um, no not really. I hadn't even knocked yet," Lucy shifted her position again, hugging herself, "I just…um, I talked to Slughorn last night."

"Oh! Yes, I was wondering about that. Did he give you the time for the party?" Dinah stared at her.

Great. She was acting odd again. Lucy knew when she was not thinking right but sometimes it was hard for her to tell when she was acting different. If she was doing well enough she could tell by other people's reactions to her when she was being weird.

She must have been staring too long because Dinah said, "Um, Lucy?" and waved her hand in front of her face.

Lucy looked up at Dinah's face, "Right. The party's on Saturday at four, dinner after. It's in Slughorn's rooms."

"Okay, thanks for telling me."

Closing her eyes, Lucy told herself to stop. She felt weepy, but she was still feeling the stuffy nose and sore throat from her cold, so it was probably because of that. At least that's what she told herself. _It has to be that._ She'd told Dinah about the party now she could go back to her rooms and go to bed. Like a normal person. She could be normal. She could.

"Are you all right?" Dinah asked, "You look a little pale."

Lucy shook her head. Well, at least she knew she wasn't okay. That had to be a good sign, didn't it? "No," she whispered, "No, today is not a good day for me. Yesterday was good. Today isn't. I don't care to hazard a guess about tomorrow. Today I haven't been able to get Bellatrix Lestrange out of my head."

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Dinah said, looking a little confused for a moment until her expression changed to one of realization, "Oh, I'm sorry. She's the one, the Death Eater, that you said... well, what she did."

"It's okay. You can say it. She killed Sirius. She gets into my head sometimes and I can't get her out. She has this way of getting under your skin…and I never even met her," Lucy shook her head to clear her thoughts, "I'm sorry. I don't need to burden you with my issues. It's just Sirius said something to me Tuesday evening and, well, I'm trying."

"Oh, you saw Sirius on Tuesday?"

Lucy could have kicked herself. How was she going to explain that? "Yeah, um, I went for a walk after dinner. I was nearly to Hogsmeade when the rain started so I kept going, saw Sirius, and got a cold."

"Oh," Dinah frowned, "Well, at least you got to see him. That must have helped."

"Yeah," she nodded, thinking about what she'd seen that night, "He reminded me that I don't have to work through this all on my own. That it's okay to ask for help. Problem is I'm not used to doing that. And then today I had one stray thought about that night, now I can't help thinking Bella's coming after him. That's stupid I know. She's dead. But a part of me can't help thinking it just the same."

Dinah frowned again and bit her lip, looking hesitant. Finally, she said, "I don't really know what to tell you. But if there's anything specific I can do, just let me know. I mean, if you need a distraction we could talk about classes or books or something."

Lucy smiled sadly, thinking she was probably making Dinah want to distance herself from Lucy. "Thanks. It helps just knowing that the offer's there," she yawned, suddenly tired, "Wow. I could fall asleep right here. Maybe just telling someone else about it helped me get all that tension out." She was still worried and her mind wasn't completely calm but she didn't want to make her new friend think she was too needy. Besides, she _did_ feel a bit better about the situation.

Dinah smiled, "I hope so. I guess I should get some sleep too. Good night then."

"Night," she said walking resolutely back to her room.

* * *

Lucy woke to an aching head and a wet pillow. She felt triumphant though. Sure she'd cried herself to sleep and was now feeling the effects of that, but she'd slept. She knew she only had to ask and Sirius would have been there as soon as he could, but she truly didn't think that calling him every time she got upset was the best answer.

She was beginning to see what he'd meant when he'd said friends where there to lean on. Just telling Dinah how she'd been feeling had made the tightness in her chest ease and gave her something to think about besides…_her_. Lucy hoped that her emotional outbursts wouldn't cause her new friend to think that she was too high maintenance and not worth being friends with.

The depression that had followed her yesterday was still hanging around. This morning it was less oppressive though. Add to that it was Friday and Sirius would be arriving this evening after dinner. She could make it through the day with better focus knowing that. She was sure she could.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Saturday morning dawned and Lucy slept. Sirius, oddly enough couldn't sleep. Brushing Lucy's hair off her face he climbed out of the bed and sat in the chair Lucy had placed near the window.

Most people were more relaxed when they slept, more peaceful. Lucy didn't appear to be either of those things. Now that he was out of the bed and she had more room, she turned out to be a fairly restless sleeper. Eventually she had wound the blankets tightly around her and couldn't move much. That didn't seem to bother her though, Sirius thought as Dora made her way to his lap.

Stroking the cat, his thoughts turned to the look on Lucy's face when he'd arrived at her door. She hadn't looked as bad as she had when he'd seen her on Tuesday but it was obvious to him that she'd had a rough couple of days.

She hadn't said anything to him about it, probably didn't want him to know. Well, asking for help was new to her. He couldn't expect miracles overnight. Besides she did have a point when she said he couldn't be here all the time. He wanted to be though. He didn't want her to hurt, wanted to protect her from the things that hurt her. But how could he protect her from things that didn't exist, worries that, to him, were unfounded?

Perhaps establishing a schedule would help. Of course she already had one with her job. Maybe it was just a matter of getting used the new schedule. After all their routine had been fairly consistent over the summer and she'd seemed fine then.

Rolling over, Lucy dragged his thoughts away from her problems. Her lips moved and he moved closer to try and catch what she was talking about in her sleep.

"Nick, no. I'm not doing that."

_Nick_? Who was Nick?

He wasn't going to find out as Lucy chose that moment to open her eyes and stare at him, "Oh, you're still here?"

He smiled, she didn't sound panicky, like she'd actually been worried he'd be gone when she woke up, "Of course I am. We've got a party to go to tonight, don't we?"

Lucy ginned back and at him and struggled out of her blanket cocoon, "Not if you can find a way to get us out of it that doesn't include me having to make excuses to Slughorn for the rest of the school year, we don't."

"Sorry. Slughorn can be pretty persistent when he wants something. He'd just keep inviting you to parties until you gave up and went." He hadn't thought of himself as a jealous boyfriend, but when your girlfriend starts saying some other guy's name in her sleep he figured he wouldn't be looked down on for having to ask, "Who's Nick?"

"Nick?" she looked confused, "Um, an old boyfriend. Why?"

"Well, you were talking to him in your sleep."

"Oh," she looked guilty, "I haven't seen him since I was fourteen if you were worried about that. He was my first boyfriend, if that's what you could call him. He was a seventh year when I was a fourth. We only dated a couple months. He pretty much just wanted me to do his homework. And there was that bet he made but nothing ever came of that."

"Bet?" he didn't like the sound of that, "What sort of bet?"

Lucy waved her hand. She didn't seem to want to talk about it but she was the one who brought up the bet. "He bet a friend of his he could get me to sleep with him. Unfortunately for him I found out about it. Even more unfortunately Bill and Charlie also found out. Not that I would have done it. I was fourteen that was much too soon for something like that."

"And you're dreaming about that?"

"No. Well, probably, I don't remember. He's been on my mind ever since Slughorn told me about the party."

"On your mind?" He'd had girlfriends before Lucy, but they'd usually only thought about him, not old boyfriends from ten years ago.

"Yeah, well, he was in the Slug Club. He loved to tell me about that. He loved anything that made him seem more important than what he was. I don't know if he's going to show up or not but I'd guess he will. This party will make him feel like he's really influential or something. He'll be there, we'll be there. Old boyfriend meeting new boyfriend…it's rather worrisome."

"Relax. You don't even know if he's going to be there and if he is then…we'll deal with it then."

* * *

Lucy wandered about her bedroom, getting ready for the party. The conversation they'd had this morning had be weird. It seemed Sirius was more territorial then she'd thought. She knew he'd had relationships before her, but she wasn't too worried about them. After all he wasn't looking at anybody but her now. She might feel differently if one of his old flames showed up though, she'd have to remember that in the future.

She began pulling on the dress she'd told Sirius about the other day. It was strapless and fell to just above her knees. It wasn't terribly tight fitting but she thought it made her look really good. It was also something that was dressier than her robes but just shy of being an all out formal gown.

She pulled some of her hair back so it was off her face, and exited the room.

"Wow."

Lucy smiled in that way girls do when they've impressed their boyfriend, "Like it do you?"

"Oh, yeah," he breathed.

She giggled, "Let's go and get this over with."

* * *

Lucy took a deep breath and entered Slughorn's rooms with Sirius in tow. They tried to sneak over to the snack table for a bite to eat, but before they could get there Slughorn cornered them.

"Ah, Lucy, you came. Sirius, how are you? It's been a long time, bet you don't remember your old potions master."

"Yes I do, sir. It would be hard to forget you."

Lucy looked over at her boyfriend and smiled. She hadn't missed the irony in his tone but from the look on Horace's face he hadn't registered it yet.

"You know I had your brother in the Club. Would have been nice to have both of you in the Club, but that never came about now, did it? Anyway, shame what happened to Regulus wasn't it? He was such a talented boy."

Lucy watched Sirius clench his jaw. She knew how he felt about his family. He knew what Regulus had done at the end of his life but she didn't think he had quite forgiven him for what he'd done before. She cut in before Sirius could make a remark, "It was a very brave thing he did before he died. I wish I could have known him…or at least known him after he'd realized what he'd been doing as a Death Eater was wrong."

"Yes, well, You Know Who could be very convincing…You'd know if you'd met him. Not that I agreed with his ideas," Slughorn quickly added, "No, no. He just…had a way about him."

"It's just as well I never had the opportunity to meet him then," Lucy said.

"Yes, I suppose it is. Ah! There's Dinah. You do know Dinah, don't you? What am I saying? Of course you do. Well, I must go greet her, but don't worry I'll be back and we'll continue our conversation." He hurried off before either of them could stop him. Not that they wanted to.

Sirius tugged on her arm, "Let's go. He won't notice if we're gone."

Lucy laughed, "Oh, yes he will. You're his new prized possession and I'm the one who brought you to him."

He rolled his eyes, "I didn't like him much when I was a student. I like him less now. Besides if this is a Slug Club reunion Snivellus is bound to show up sooner or later and it's probably best if we aren't here."

Lucy shot him a look that told him she didn't like his use of that name. Generally she let it go, having been witness to some of the goading Snape had inflicted on Sirius while he was shut up in Grimauld Place, but the last thing they needed was for the man to overhear that name at some point and create a scene.

Catching sight of Dinah, Lucy smiled and waved as Slughorn made his way back to them. The other professor waved back and Lucy found herself hoping Slughorn would get distracted on the way back.

Slughorn did get distracted but not for long enough to forget about them. Instead he brought over Didacus Boothby and his wife Phoenix Kettle to meet them. Lucy nodded in greeting before learning that they had been at school with Uncle's Gideon and Fabian.

"We were so sorry to hear about their deaths. They were very talented wizards."

"I didn't know them well. I was about seven when they were killed, but from the stories I've been told they were. "

"Yes, it was a tragedy," Slughorn butted in, "Anyway, Didacus, Phoenix, do you know Sirius? Sirius Black of course, he…" Lucy - and probably the other three too - stopped paying attention and eventually Slughorn ran out of steam and left them insisting they simply must meet his new assistant.

The other couple took the opportunity to escape heading out on to the balcony for fresh air and quiet.

"We should follow them."

Lucy smiled, looked up at him and said, "He'd just search the place until he found you. That's what you get for being so interesting. No, we're better off staying right here, at the very least we're saving others from being subjected to him like we've been." Lucy glanced around the room to see if she could spot where the older professor had gone. "Oh no," she whispered.

She hadn't spotted Slughorn. No, instead she'd seen a brown haired boy with hazel eyes. Except he wasn't a boy anymore and his face…well, she couldn't see what it was that had induced her to agree to date him in the first place. "Lulu? Is that you? Been a long time. What are you doing here?"

"Well, um, actually, I'm—"

"I'm doing great. Got a job in the Ministry working with Dad. Married Penelope Derby about three years ago. You remember her? Of course you do. We had a son, Troy, a year ago. That's why Penny's not here. Anyway, I've been moving up in the Ministry pretty quickly, or at least I was until Shaklebolt became Minister of Magic."

"I worked with Kingsley. He's a good—"

Nick cut Lucy off for the second time, "Really? When? You mean during that business with You Know Who? Yeah, I took Penny and the baby to America during that time. No need to get involved and get myself killed, eh?"

Lucy felt Sirius tense beside her and put a hand on his chest to keep him in place. She watched Nick notice the gesture, his eyes narrowing. It was the one time she thought she'd be grateful for Slughorn's interference.

She turned to greet Slughorn again and was surprised to see Dinah with him, "Oh, hi Dinah" she couldn't help sighing before turning to her co-worker, "Professor Slughorn."

Slughorn looked thrilled, completely oblivious to the tension in the group. "I'm back! And I brought someone I'd like to introduce to you," he turned seeing Nick for the first time, "Ah, Nick, good you can meet him too."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lucy told Dinah, aware she hadn't introduced her to Nick yet. She was also sure she looked about as thrilled as she felt. She waved the hand that wasn't on Sirius's chest at Nick, "I didn't introduce you, Dinah. This is Nick Hill, one of…" for some reason she hesitated to say he was one of her old boyfriends. Sirius knew, of course, but it still felt odd to say, "well, I knew him as a student. I told you about him."

Sirius glared at Nick, clearly not happy with his presence or the things he'd said earlier. Nick, on the other hand thrust his hand out and almost hit Dinah in the stomach with it. "Dinah," he said not making any other comments.

"Nick Hill?" Dinah questioned. It seemed like she recognized his full name, "I think I knew you."

Nick, like Slughorn, seemed to be in the business of collecting people he thought important and instantly recognized Dinah. "I was a first year in the Slug Club when you were a fifth. We didn't talk much, but we saw each other."

"Ah, right," was all she said. Lucy would apologize for him later, when he was out of ear shot.

Slughorn started introducing his assistant, Eugene, to everyone but Dinah when he was interrupted by Hermione's yelling.

"Wait, I can get that! No! Don't! Stop!" Everyone turned to stare at Hermione struggling with one of the house elves trying to take away her empty plate. Lucy was happy to see Ginny go and intervene. She would have done it but she'd rather stay with her group. She liked Hermione and in some ways agreed with her about the house elf issue, but she tended to go overboard with it. Honestly, she wasn't going to change anyone's mind overnight, especially as it was part of everyone's way of life. It was hard to get people to change the things they're used to.

Lucy was glad for the distraction that the two girls provided for Nick and Slughorn when they came over after Ginny calmed Hermione. Lucy smiled and made small talk with Eugene and the others.

Sirius took her hand from his chest and kissed her palm. She looked at him and smiled. The tension was gone for now, but with Nick hanging around she was sure it would come back.

"Well, being an Auror and going around hunting old Death Eaters is a full time job. That said, it would have been nice if he could have come. Parties are generally more fun when you have a date." Ginny explained.

Lucy thought it would have been good if Harry and Ron had both been able to come. It would have allowed them to spend time with their girlfriends and Harry to spend some time with Sirius. She understood why he couldn't come though. Being an Auror _was_ a full time job, especially now, and one in which it was hard to get time off at short notice. In some ways his job allowed him to be a regular person. Coming back to Hogwarts, and for this reunion, he'd be no more than the boy who defeated Voldemort. Not to the people here. No, most of the students would know him on sight and certain members of the Slug Club would have had him cornered retelling tales that didn't need to be told.

She was pulled out of her musings by a sneeze from Dinah, who she thought had been glaring at Sirius slightly.

"Bless you," he said, showing he did have manners.

"Thank you," Dinah said, sounding much like Lucy had done earlier in the week. "Well, that's rather odd. I seem to be coming down with something."

Lucy was instantly worried she'd given her friend her cold. Generally she didn't get sick often and she'd always attributed it to not being concerned about germs. She'd have to start being careful though. With this many people in one building a simple cold could get to be a real problem. "I'm sorry, Dinah! Did you catch it from me?"

Sirius slid an arm around her waist, giving Nick a pointed look as she fussed over Dinah.

"Oh, no," Dinah waved off her concern, "Don't worry about it. It's just as likely I got it from myself as from you."

"At least you didn't get sick from the food," Hermione said, and then grinned, "I recall being told that Cormac did so after I left him at the party year before last and he threw up all over Professor Snape's shoes."

_Well, _Lucy thought, _at least he got to eat._ Despite what she'd said earlier, Lucy would have liked to have been able to go over to the food table and grab some bits to munch on before dinner without Slughorn trailing them.

Dinah brought her hand up to her mouth but it was obvious she was laughing at the thought of a student desecrating Severus Snape's shoes in such a way. "Oh, my, that must have been so amusing. What I would give to have seen the expression on his face at _that_!"

Lucy stared at Dinah. She'd caught the two professors in close conversations a couple of times and had noticed the way they'd been talking at meals. She was beginning to wonder if something more than professional courtesy was going on.

"I'm sorry," Dinah sniffed and wiped at her nose with a napkin, "This really seems to be hitting me hard. Is there a bathroom where I can go for a moment and see if I can get this under control?"

"Oh, please," Slughorn said, edging away from both Dinah and Lucy, apparently still afraid of catching germs.

Dinah called her thanks as she sneezed again and headed in the direction Slughorn had pointed.

Sighing Lucy turned to Eugene, "So, you're working on some sort of potion? I think that's what Professor Slughorn said." The professor himself had walked off to find some other, non germ filled people to talk to.

"Yes! It's youthening potion. I'm hoping to make it permanent, but it doesn't last more than a couple weeks yet."

Hearing Eugene's accent Lucy could have kicked herself, "I'm sorry. I just noticed your accent. You're names not Eugene is it?"

"No, it's actually Evgeni Wilkins. My mother is Bulgarian and my father is British. Eugene is fine though. After all, most English speakers have problems pronouncing my name."

Nick spent a few minutes interrogating Eugene after that while virtually ignoring Sirius and Lucy. She felt badly for Eugene but was grateful for the few moments it gave her to go grab some stuff to munch on before dinner.

"Hey, Lulu! That Geni fellow just told me all about that potion of his. Sounds interesting, but I'm sure if I was working on it I'd be much farther along by now. Anyway, who's this guy hanging all over you? You know, if he's bugging you I can always get rid of him. You don't look like you're really enjoying his company."

"He's not bugging me. He's…"

"I'm her date! Name's Sirius Black. You know the crazy, lunatic murderer who escaped from Azkaban. Now will you please, for the love of everything you hold dear, stop calling her Lulu!"

"Sirius," Lucy grated, embarrassed.

"No, Luce. He's being an ass. He's been disrespectful to just about everyone he's talked to…Most everyone else are too nice to say anything, but I don't care. If you won't tell him to shove off, I will."

"Hey, now. She doesn't look too thrilled to be in your company either. And I know all about you. It was in the paper about you and Pettigrew."

"She looks like that because you won't shut up!"

"Sirius!" Lucy said pushing him away from the other man and into a quiet corner.

"Lucy, he's—"

"He's an idiot who doesn't listen and thinks he's oh so wonderful and smart and talented and everything that makes him feel important. He's not worth trying to reason with. He's _not_ worth arguing with. Just leave him alone," she sighed and wiped her hand over her face, "This is what I was afraid of."

"But he's…"

"I know. I know," she said soothingly. "Look, maybe we should go. I know what I said earlier but if Slughorn asks I can tell him I was still feeling ill from my cold and you took me back to my rooms to care for me."

Sirius didn't look thrilled and she knew why. It would look like they were running from Nick, but she didn't much care.

She ran her hand over his chest and leaned into him, "If we go now, you can take me back to my rooms, help me out of this dress…"

He looked past her to glare at Nick. "But I…"

"You want to punch his face in? I know. But Bill and Charlie already did that. They got two months detention each and Nick spent a week in the hospital wing. I have done all the caring and thinking I'm ever going to do about Nick Hill. More than he deserved. Now I'm just thinking about you and how much we'd both rather be back in my rooms right now. We can get the house elves to bring us dinner…but don't let Hermione know that."

"But…"

Lucy rolled her eyes and moved her hand from his chest to his arm to gain his attention, "Sirius Lycurgus Black am I just not very good at this seduction thing or are you trying to tell me you'd rather spend time with Nick?"

She smiled when he finally turned to look at her. "Seduction did you say?"

"Mmmhmmm."

He grabbed her free hand, "Let's go."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Sirius shifted to the side, giving Lucy room to breathe and cleared his throat, "Well then."

She couldn't help it. She laughed, "You know that's exactly what you said after our first kiss."

"Is it? Well, at least this time I won't have to sit to dinner with your family thinking about what we just did," he nuzzled her neck.

"Mmmm," she sighed stretching and finding all the newly sore places they'd created, "I'm just glad they weren't here to witness this first of ours. _That_ would have been embarrassing."

"It's just as well. Molly and Arthur probably would have killed me anyway."

Lucy chuckled. It bothered her when he joked like that, but saying something about it would only dampen the mood. They'd been having a good time, she wanted to stay happy. "I doubt it. Besides, I hope I'd have enough presence of mind to stop before we got too far."

Sirius turned to lie on his side, grabbing Lucy and pulling her close. "You know," he said, apparently changing the subject from her family, "I can honestly say this is one thing I'd never thought I'd do."

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"I'm laying naked in bed, at Hogwarts in the bed of an equally naked professor. Though she is the prettiest professor, if you don't mind me saying."

Lucy laughed. It was such a ridiculous statement she couldn't help it. "I don't mind you saying so but really my only other competition is Dinah. Unless you happen to like older women and forgot to tell me."

"No, but who are you to talk? You like older men."

It was so nice to laugh and have fun with him, especially now. "Just one older man.," she said, kissing his neck. The rest of the night was spent between enjoying each other and sleeping.

* * *

When he woke he was alone. It wasn't normal for Lucy to leave him alone in the bed. Even if she just lay there reading she usually stayed near by until he woke. Sitting up he could see her through the open bedroom door, leaning over a desk and from the motion of the quill he thought she was probably writing something.

Pulling on his robe before he left the room, he went to stand behind Lucy and look at what she was working on. She was reading a rather thick looking book and writing down, what he assumed were notes every so often. "What are you working on?"

She put down her quill and marked her place in the book, "Well, Dinah's doing a study of Muggle-borns and she's having them fill out a survey that's due tomorrow. It got me thinking. I'm teaching about literature but one of the books we're reading is about Anne Boleyn. I was going through the biography I have on her and writing down notes that might indicate whether or not she was also Muggle-born. I plan on looking at her cousin, Katherine Howard next. Maybe when I'm done Dinah would be interested in going through my notes with me."

"And how is that going to help her study?"

"Well, I'm not really sure, but there's no evidence that anyone else in her family was a witch other than her cousin Katherine. If nothing else it's interesting information. I only have so much to work with and it's really only from a wizard's point of view, but perhaps it will help Dinah with her studies."

"Ah," he said lounging on the couch, "You and she have made fast friends it seems." Sirius watched as Lucy turned to face him in her chair. It struck sometimes, how thoughtful she could be. Like now, gathering information that might not even be useful in Dinah's research.

"Yes, well, she's easy to get along with. Besides she's pretty much the only other professor here that wasn't once my professor, unless you count Slughorn but I don't. She's closer to me in age than any of the other professors, well except Snape. She said she was the same age as him but she didn't start Hogwarts until she was sixteen and still had to go through all seven years…"

"You know that sounds familiar, an older student being a first year that is. Odd business that was. There can't have been many cases of such a thing happening so I assume the one I heard of was Dinah. Heard she was a rather odd kid."

"Hey, now," she said, getting up and coming to sit next to him on the couch, "that's not nice."

"No, it's not. It's what I heard though. I never met the kid so I can't say from personal experience. I just remember other's commenting on the student being kind of a loner, a bit weird, stuff like that."

"Mmm," she said, snuggling closer to him. "It's still not nice. Besides, even if Dinah was that student you heard about, she's not weird now and well, I don't know that I would call her a loner but she's not a social butterfly either. Maybe that's why we get along. I'm probably more of a loner though. The only professor I talk to other than Dinah is Slughorn and that's really more him talking at me than anything."

"Oh, so it's actually you who's the weirdo loner?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Hey," he said, shrugging his shoulder to get her to lift her head, "what are you doing?"

"Trying to nap. I don't know about you, but I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and I, for one, was up early."

"It's still early."

"So? It's Sunday. I don't have any place to be."

With that he laid back and let her wrap herself around him to sleep. He knew the exact moment she was no longer awake because she stopped trying to bury her face in his chest. Rubbing his hand up and down her back he thought about how Voldemort might have been the evil one but Bella's face was the one people seemed to remember most. She'd really done a number on people. Her own family, Draco certainly hadn't been helped by her involvement, Lucy.

But Bella was only part of the problem. Part of it was that she felt guilty for not having come back when Dumbledore had told her to, but the biggest problem was that he'd died. He'd died. Died, and left her alone. She'd been scared, lonely and depressed and apparently hadn't known how to process those feelings well.

He started combing his hand through her hair, gently puling apart any snarls he came across. He knew from the outside their relationship seemed to have moved pretty fast and it might be hard for others to understand just what it was that drew them together but…it'd been the way she'd fussed with his hair, the way she'd bite her lip and turn away when she was trying hard not to laugh at him, even though he always knew and she always laughed anyway. The way she hadn't cared at all about lying next to him on the dirty floors of Grimmauld Place when she hadn't seemed like the type of girl to do that. There'd been a lot of little things like that that had drawn them together and he could only imagine how he'd feel if he'd been in Lucy's place.

Dora hopped up on to Lucy's back snuggling with them. Up until now she'd been ignoring them both, probably upset about being banished from the bedroom last night.

"Well," he said, moving his hand from Lucy's head to Dora's, "what do you think? Can we help Lu through this? You have to be willing to help too. I can't be here all the time," he said when the cat just stared at him.

"Maybe it's time to really talk to Molly about what went on while I was gone. Charlie too, since he's the closest to her and he was the one who was with her when she found out…" he looked down at the cat again, "What do you think? Tonks too? She's Lucy's best friend, but then I heard it she was pretty wrapped up in her own problems with Remus at the time."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

A couple weeks later saw Lucy standing in front of Professor Snape's office door. He'd been alternating between glaring at her and mostly ignoring her since her arrival at the school. She'd had enough of that.

If she didn't talk to him tonight it would have to wait until Thursday. She, Sirius, and Dumbledore had worked out a schedule that seemed to be working. She saw Sirius on the weekends and on Wednesday evenings. The nights he was gone still weren't the best but they were no where near as bad as she'd been that one Monday.

Either way he couldn't keep treating her like this if it wasn't her he had the problem with. Snape wasn't a people person and she understood that but honestly…She took a deep breath and knocked.

She heard footsteps on the other side of the door, echoing on the cold stone of the dungeons as they got closer and closer. Then the door opened and there stood Severus Snape. Tall, dark, and foreboding as usual in his black robes that always looked the same. He looked down his long nose at her and, after a tiny moment where she thought maybe his eyes widened in surprise, he frowned. Actually, it was more like a grimace. "Yes?" he said slowly, his usual deep monotone unnerving.

"Well…I…um," She sounded professional didn't she? "I want to talk to you and…perhaps we could not do this in the hall to be over heard by students and any other passers by?"

He sighed. Was it her imagination or did he look more agitated than usual? "That seems to be the pattern this year, doesn't it? Come in," he stepped back to allow her access and she walked in wondering what he had been talking about.

She walked into his office dropping down on one of the dark green leather chairs that sat in front of his desk. He really did seem out of sorts today. She wondered if it had anything to do with him and Dinah ignoring each other at meal times lately. Looking up, she said, "Professor Snape, you can't keep glaring at me all the time if we're to work together. I realize you're not thrilled with who I'm dating, but I don't think that's any reason to look at me like that."

He stared at her for a moment before smirking; "I see. So that's how you've felt, have you? Well, I regret that my extreme hatred for your 'boyfriend' has caused such a stir in your life."

Lucy bit her tongue, literally. Getting angry and yelling at the man wouldn't help anyone so she'd best not do it. "Look, I don't particularly care if you have an 'extreme hatred' for Sirius or not. It's not him you have to work with. I have done nothing to you to warrant such an attitude from you. I have enough problems with my Slytherin students. It'd be nice if they didn't get the impression that their Head of House thinks the literature professor is emotional idiot with poor taste in men!"

Professor Snape sighed, and now looked more resigned than anything else. "Professor Ketteridge, it has not been my intention to glare at you all the time and I have not said a word about you towards any of my students nor do I intend to. My personal thoughts have never been and will never be any of my students' concerns. I simply seem unable to look at you without my thoughts drifting to _him_. But if our professional relationship, whatever that may be, is being strained by my behavior, from this point forward I shall try to..." he paused and finished thoughtfully, "refrain."

Lucy shook her head, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to imply that I thought you'd said anything to your students. It's just kids can be rather intuitive when it comes to things like who likes who. I only know a little bit of what went on between you and Sirius, but I can understand to an extent why you dislike him. I'm not trying to rub him in your face and it's not like I go shouting his name from the rooftops. Anyway, I know things have been kind of rough lately with whatever happened between you and Dinah..."

He frowned, that glare coming into his eyes again for a moment, and then it disappeared and he just looked uncomfortable. His glance shifted to an area behind him, but she had no idea why. All that there was in the room was a bunch of shelves with potion ingredients and another, smaller desk containing a lamp and a pensieve. He turned back to her; "Professor Samson and I are having a... disagreement."

"I gathered that much," she looked down at her hands, "I hope you two work whatever it was out. She's seemed rather depressed lately and coming from me that's saying something."

"Hm," he made a noncommittal noise, and when Lucy looked back up he appeared thoughtful. He met her eyes again, "Is that all?"

"Well," Lucy cleared her throat, "that was…easier than I thought it would be."

Snape sighed again, "I fail to understand how I manage to teach eighteen years at Hogwarts without any of my colleagues making comments about my personality, and then suddenly this year I am bombarded by two women who insist upon judging me."

She giggled, "Well, I'm not sure about Dinah but I'm guessing as far as I'm concerned it has something to do with once having been taught by you. I sometimes forget that you can't give me detention and I find you just as intimidating now as I did then."

He stood and she did the same, thinking for an instant that it was rather indicative of her comment that she felt she had to follow his lead. That same smirk was on his face, but he didn't look annoyed with her like earlier; "Then I suppose I have been a success."

She smiled and walked to the door, "I suppose you have been. I know I learned a lot about potions in your class. Anyway, thank you for listening. I'll do my best not to remind you of…well you know."

Lucy exited his office and leaned against the door. That was one talk down. One she hopefully wouldn't have to have again.

* * *

While Lucy was talking to Severus Snape, Sirius was sitting in the Weasley's living room staring at Molly. "I know you're not thrilled with Lucy and me dating," he said breaking the silence, "I'm asking you to tell me why. After one week at Hogwarts she was so afraid for me that she couldn't think. She couldn't function and Dumbledore felt it was bad enough that he wrote me. What happened?"

Molly and Arthur looked at each other. Arthur was the first to speak, "It's not that we have a problem with you dating Lucy. In fact that Christmas we spent in London was the most youthful we'd seen her act in a long time."

Sirius must have looked confused because Arthur went on to explain, "She's never been a child really. She wasn't one to play and romp like most kids do. Oh, she'd go play with our children, but on her own…Lucy was always mature for her age, especially after Jennifer was killed. That Christmas she seemed a twenty two year old flirting with a guy she liked, which is what she was. It was nice to see her like that, having fun and enjoying herself. Not that she didn't before, she was just more reserved about it."

Molly looked him in the eye and he saw a fear there. Fear for her child, because he knew that was how she thought of Lucy. "She stopped functioning. I had to remind her to do things like eat and I had to take her for walks because otherwise she just sat on the couch staring at the wall. That was after she finally stopped crying. The only time she talked was to answer someone's question and then it was generally a yes or no answer. I can't describe how it was, how she changed. It was like the life went out of her.

"She wasn't much improved by the end of July. I didn't have to remind her to eat anymore but she still spent most days staring at the wall. I did something I shouldn't have done. I wrote Henley."

"Henley?" Sirius questioned. It felt like a name he should have known but if he'd heard it before it hadn't been often.

"Lucy's father. I knew she wouldn't want him to know, but I thought if this was my child I'd want to be told. He'd never responded to Lucy's letters before or letters we'd sent him. I didn't think this time would be any different."

He was getting the feeling that this wasn't going to be getting better, "But it was. What happened?"

"He came," he sensed her hesitation to tell him much more than that but after a few minutes Molly continued, "He took her away and we didn't see her again for seven months. Since then she hasn't spoken to Henley and neither have we. The next time we saw her was at a meeting of the Order, here at the Burrow. She was sad, but there was life in her again. She was aware, thinking, she participated."

Arthur stood and paced, "We're worried if we don't urge the two of you to slow down and use caution this time and something happens to you…Lucy won't come back from that, not again. The two of you seem to be moving very fast, already living together…"

Sirius smiled, not because of what happened to Lucy. No, that wasn't funny, but because of the Weasleys' concern that they were moving too fast. "It's not like we've ever moved slow. The only thing that really slowed us down before was the war with Voldemort. That and it would have been very hard to date seeing as I couldn't leave the house. We knew what we felt then, it was just that neither one of us said it.

"Lucy's afraid of the same thing you are though. She thinks if I die again she won't survive. She can't think like that," he shook his head, not knowing what else to say.

"I think," Arthur said, "the best you can do is talk to her and show her you're not going to die on her again. You already know her fears aren't going to just disappear, but coddling her isn't the way to go either. The two of you spent the entire summer at each other's sides and that clearly didn't help her get over her fears. Just be there for her. It's the best any of us can do."

* * *

"All right I know we've all been reading _Surviving a Muggle World_ and today I think we're going to talk about how the author does or does not accurately portray Muggles," Lucy addressed her third years Tuesday morning. "I know some of you have experience with Muggles and some are also in Professor Samson's class learning about the subject so I'm hoping this will be a good discussion today. If all goes well I may even go and see if we can steal Professor Samson for the second half a class if she's willing to help us muddle through this as I have absolutely no experience in the Muggle world. Does anyone have a topic they'd like to start us off discussing?"

A Ravenclaw near the middle of the class raised her hand, "Yes, Miss Ridgebit?

"Well, I was just thinking that it's pretty funny that wizards can get something as simple as clothing so wrong. I mean it's not that hard and yet the combinations that the author described the characters as wearing was so laughable. Most Muggles would not wear something like that and anyone who did would be stared at and noticed. They wouldn't blend in like the story said they did."

"So you think that this reflects the authors misunderstanding of Muggle customs? Do you have any suggestions as to how the author might have described a more truthful representative of Muggle clothing?"

"Not many Muggles wear top hats for one thing, not to mention bright purple ones. And most would tone down the bright purple, orange and green colors that the main character wore at one point. They'd also pick colors that go together better than those three. That's one thing I don't understand. I mean I get how wizards can pick the wrong items to put together like the top hat, tank top and snow pants. Wizards don't use those things so they wouldn't be aware that none of those items matched, but surely most know what colors go together and which ones don't."

"I think you're on to something there. It's probably way off base that we assume Muggles would dress in such bright and mismatched colors. It would perhaps be a more reasonable mistake if we were going to a different culture where we would be less familiar with the local customs even in the wizarding world."

Septimus Peaks, a pure-blooded Slytherin, spoke up without raising his hand, "That's stupid. Why would we want to blend in with Muggles? Does it really matter if the author got the facts right? It's not as if it matters anyway. Muggles aren't going to read it after all."

Lucy walked around the class room observing the students as she went, "That may be mostly true Mr. Peaks but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to strive for truth and realism, even in works of fiction."

"And just because Muggles probably won't read it doesn't mean that those familiar with Muggles and Muggle customs won't!" Jania Whitehorn tossed at Septimus.

"That must mean you're a mud-blood Whitehorn!"

This simple discussion was quickly turning into a heated argument. If she didn't get it under control they'd never get anywhere. "Hey now, there will be no name calling in this class. The only meaning blood status is to have in my class is how it gives us each unique experiences that we might use to analyze literature. What Miss Whitehorn said is a valid argument. It is not unheard of for wizards and Muggles to meet and marry, therefore they and their children would have experiences that would lend them different views on how they would see this story."

A rather quiet boy who sat in the back corner of the class raised his hand, while at the same time trying not to be noticed. "Yes, Mr. Smyth?"

"I think if you want your readers to willingly suspend their disbelief you have to make sure that the things you tell them have some element of truth to them. Wizards have had this idea about Muggle clothing being rather…bright for so long that to them it's truth so they are more than willing to go along with it. Those who are familiar with Muggles are more likely to scoff at the story and set it aside because they know that this isn't a true element of Muggle society. If we were to change this to a more truthful representation of Muggle clothing those who are wizards and have no experience in the Muggle world will be just as likely to set it aside as the Muggles would have been if we left the clothing as it is. If it's going to change it needs to be a gradual shift. Then again you can't please everyone with your books, or anything really, there's always going to be someone who hates it."

"A very good and thoughtful answer Mr. Smyth. Ten points to Slytherin," she hid a smile as the other students groaned. Like others she was partial to disliking the Slytherin house but as a professor she was determined to be fair and reward where it was indicated. "Well, I think now would be a good time for me to go see if Professor Samson is able to join us. That is if all of you think you can behave yourselves while I'm gone," she smiled knowing that most of the thirteen-year-olds would take that as a challenge to act like the adults they probably thought they were.

She hurried to Dinah's classroom and, seeing that she wasn't in there, continued on to her office. The door was closed so Lucy knocked to announce herself.

Dinah opened the door a few moments later. Her face looked tired and drawn as it usually did lately, and even her smile didn't hold its usual happiness. "Oh. Hi Lucy," she said in a distracted tone, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She seemed more unkempt than usual, too.

"Hi," Lucy said. She'd tried asking Dinah about what was wrong before but so far Dinah had been unwilling to talk about it. "We're discussing the book _Surviving a Muggle World_ in class today and I was wondering if you wanted to come over and help us with the discussion?"

"Sure," Dinah agreed. "I was just finishing up getting all my survey responses onto my computer. But I just don't feel like starting the analysis. This gives me something else to do."

She started leading the other professor back towards her classroom, "I'm with my third years right now. You'll probably know some of them. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the book either but it's basically about a wizard trying to get along in the Muggle world."

"A nonfiction?"

"That's not really clear. The author says it's all true but personally I think if he'd been running around telling everyone he met he was a wizard and showing them what he could do, he'd be locked up in St. Mungo's psych ward or in Azkaban, I'm not sure which."

Dinah chuckled, "I'll have to take a look at this book."

Lucy smiled, "I'm sure I have an extra copy you could borrow." The pair of professors walked back into the literature class together. Lucy turned to her students, "Alright kids, some of you might already know Professor Samson, but she's here to help us with our discussion of the book. If someone could tell the professor where we left off perhaps she has some thoughts to add?"

Jania volunteered to retell the last hour of class, "We've been arguing about how they author of the book might have increased his validity by researching Muggle dress and writing about it in a more truthful manner. For example in one portion the main character wears a bright purple top hat, neon orange tank top and loud, green snow pants…in the middle of summer."

Dinah giggled, seeming a bit like her old self again; "Indeed. How ... creative. Now unless the Muggles in the book pointed and made fun of the main character in all scenes then I'm suspecting this book is fiction. Or the main character was completely oblivious to the Muggles' reactions, which I find hard to believe."

"Yes," Jania replied, "that's what I was trying to get across to _some_ students," the young girl glared at Septimus. "Unfortunately, some of us are thick headed and think that just because Muggles probably won't read the book it means that the author shouldn't strive for realism."

Lucy looked at her colleague, ignoring Jania's comments. She should probably say something to the girl, but what she had said was no worse than Septimus's words earlier and she had warned both of them then. Besides Jania's comment wasn't _that_ bad. "Yes, well Mr. Smyth was kind enough to point out to us that had the author been more realistic with his choice of clothing most wizards might be inclined to set the book aside as most of us familiar with Muggles are prone to do with the book as it currently stands."

"I still think it shouldn't matter as Muggles _aren't_ going to read it!" Septimus shouted.

"That will be five points from Slytherin for shouting in my class and I suggest if you don't want me to take away more points then you behave like the young gentleman I know you can be Mr. Peaks," Lucy scolded before turning again to Dinah, "Do you have any thoughts about the subject?"

"Well..." Dinah blinked, surprised at the shouting; "First off, I think some Muggles_ may_ read it. Don't forget, there are many mixed marriages. I'm assuming husbands and wives will have access to each others' reading materials."

"I think that's very true," Lucy said in a calm and quiet tone, trying to draw attention away from Septimus, "Perhaps we should move on from the subject of clothing now though. Perhaps even more telling that this is not a non-fiction piece is the settings. Can anyone think of a time when the setting showed itself to be perhaps not as typical as it should be?" Once again it was Tad Smyth who raised his hand shyly. "Yes, Mr. Smyth? Thank you for raising your hand by the way."

"Well, the Muggles walking into Madam Puddifoot's and Zonko's was far fetched. I mean you'd probably run across some Muggle parents here and there in Diagon Alley with their kids, but I don't think they'd ever wind up in Hogsmeade, probably not even by accident."

"I'd have to agree with you there Mr. Smyth. It's not likely that Muggles would wander in to that particular part of the wizarding world and I'm not sure how many wizards would be bringing their Muggle spouse there, though it has probably happened on occasion. The author doesn't seem to realize that Muggles stand out in our world just as much as we do in theirs. If I were to write a piece such as this I think I would want the differences between the worlds to be less noticeable, that we should be able to integrate more easily."

"Are you arguing that the wizard and Muggle worlds should be joined again, Professor?" Septimus said in a snotty, though quieter tone.

Dinah also turned an interested glance at Lucy.

"No, not at all. I think we would do well to remember our history in this respect. There is a reason the International Statute of Secrecy was brought into existence. There were burnings, drownings, and hangings of witches and those only suspected of witchcraft long before the Statute was even thought of. I think if we joined our two societies again the same thing would happen eventually. As we've seen from recent events people can be rather unaccepting of those who are different from them, no matter how open-minded or free thinking they see themselves as being."

Dinah nodded, "It's human nature to identify differences and attach importances to them. As some of you know, we're discussing that in my class right now as well. Way to be on the same page, Professor Ketteridge," she grinned.

"Thank you. That's one of the reasons I've been so passionate about this class. I think we can learn from all forms of literature and fostering an interest in reading, discussing the reasoning of the authors, and sharing our combined knowledge help us to not repeat the past and also gives us another world to go to when things get a bit much for us in this world."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The third years began filing out of her class, heading for lunch after she had dismissed them. The younger professor turned to her friend after all the students had gone. "I think that went well. Did you want to go to the Great Hall for lunch or would you rather eat lunch in my rooms?" Lucy thought perhaps Dinah would like to avoid certain members of the faculty today and wanted to give her an excuse to do so if she wanted to take her up on the offer.

"Oh," Dinah smiled bit; "That would be... nice. In your rooms, that is. It would be quieter and everything and I've still got these surveys on my mind. I don't know, I don't really want to analyze them any more. What's the point?"

"Um, well," Lucy wasn't really sure what to say and started heading towards her rooms. "I guess it's like I said earlier. Having knowledge is important. If we don't learn we're bound to make silly mistakes in the things we say and do. Stuff like that. Then there's the kids like Tad Smyth. I don't know if you have him in your class or not but he's a Muggle-born Slytherin who is so painfully quiet, more so than I ever was, and shy too, but when he gets the courage to speak up and say something he can come up with some pretty brilliant things."

"Hmm, you're right," Dinah admitted. "When I entered the data I realized that a lot of the Muggle-born Slytherins behave that way."

Lucy nodded, "Yes, and unfortunately I think a good portion of their problems is kids like Septimus who don't seem to have a nice social filter."

"Yeah," Dinah nodded as they walked into Lucy's rooms and Lucy led them to the table; "Well, I will analyze it eventually. I guess I just need to be in the right mood."

Lucy nodded, looking down as the food appeared before them, "Yep, I know how that goes. It's the same thing with some of the research I've been doing…oh! Hello," she said as a large black dog standing in her doorway caught her attention. It wasn't Wednesday so she wasn't sure what he was doing there, but he didn't make a sound as he came over to where she sat and laid his head in her lap, looking up at her with big, sad eyes.

Dinah flinched and pushed her chair back a little bit, eyeing Snuffles nervously. Lucy frowned. It was an odd reaction for someone who had seemed to like animals so much.

"It's okay," she said, "he might look big and mean, but he's really quite harmless. His name is Snuffles. He visits me from time to time." She scratched between his ears. His eyes closed and he moaned, "See? Harmless. Anyway, do you want to tell me what's wrong? You've been acting more depressed than what I normally do."

Dinah was still staring at Snuffles and didn't look much more at ease despite Lucy's words. When Snuffles walked over and put a paw on her, though, she seemed to crack a bit and smiled. She reached over and pat him on the head twice, then shrugged; "I'm fine. Just busy and all. I can't really say... what the problem is..."

Lucy grabbed a couple ribs off her plate, "Hey, you," she said addressing Snuffles, "stop bugging Dinah. Here," she held out the ribs for him to grab, "Don't leave a mess. Dora's in the bedroom if you want to visit."

"You give your dog rather specific orders," Dinah commented, an odd look on her face.

"I suppose I do," Lucy laughed, "though I really wouldn't call him my dog. He sort of comes and goes as he pleases. And my cat has an unnatural fascination with him. It's, uh, probably not good that I talk to him like he's a person, but I talk to Dora the same way so…Anyway," she said shaking her head clear of thoughts she didn't want to think about, "you're not fine. When I'm having a bad day I sometimes don't realize I'm not acting normal. So I gage how well I'm doing sometimes by how I answer when people ask how I am. If I can tell them I'm not okay I know that I'm doing better than I could be. When people look at me funny and I tell them I'm okay that's usually an indicator I'm not. If you don't want to tell me what's going on that's fine, but please don't lie to me and tell me you're okay."

Dinah sighed and picked at her ribs. She nibbled on one piece and then put it down without much interest. Then she looked across and forced a smile at Lucy. "Thank you. I do appreciate your concern. But it's just... I can't really _tell_ you what happened, not exactly. I'm in enough trouble as it is. You see, I did something I shouldn't have done and now um... well, it seems_ he_ and I aren't speaking anymore."

"He? You mean Professor Snape?" She cast a worried glance at Snuffles and flinched when he picked his head up and looked towards them…it was a gesture that was a little _too_ human.

Dinah groaned a little and clapped a hand to her forehead. It was a strange reaction. "Yes," she said quietly after awhile. "You know we've been debating and the like. Well, now, something happened and he's mad at me."

"Oh," Lucy said, shooing Snuffles back to his meal, "Well, if you've already apologized there's not much more you can do I suppose. If he doesn't want to talk to you anymore that's his loss. Of course, that's easy for me to say from the outside."

Dinah sighed, looking more miserable by the minute. "Somehow I don't think he views it as a loss."

"If he's got any shred of social ability in him he should. He's got some decency in him I know, I mean besides the stuff Harry told everyone about. When I talked to him yesterday he promised to make an effort to stop…well doing what we talked about."

Dinah's eyes lit up and she almost stood from her seat, "You talked to him? When? What did he say?"

Lucy inched back in her seat. She remembered hearing conversations like this when she was a teen. "Um, yesterday, it was Monday in case you forgot. In the afternoon. In his office. We mostly talked about an issue I was having with him. I think I mentioned it to you the first day of classes. Anyway I mentioned that you've seemed depressed lately and all he really said was that you'd had a disagreement." She didn't really care if Dinah knew what she had said to Professor Snape, but Lucy thought it was better that Sirius didn't know what sort of issues she was having with her colleague.

"Oh," Dinah flushed and leaned back in her seat; "Well, I guess that doesn't mean much of anything. It's okay, I'll just live the rest of my life in memories of Dylan. I can die an old woman with a bunch of cats. Godric would probably like the company, anyway." Now Lucy had no idea whether Dinah was mumbling these incoherencies to her or to herself.

"I don't think his lack of comments to me should be taken as an indicator of his feelings towards you. It's not like I'm his best friend and besides he's not really a talkative guy anyway. You could always come and live with Tonks and me in our House of Merry Widows," Lucy smiled, remembering the day she and Tonks had come up with the idea.

Dinah laughed, "That sounds fun. Sorry about all that, I guess I've just been a little nutty lately what with everything that's been going on."

Lucy shrugged, "I know how that can be. I tend to be more on the non-responsive side though." Now her mind was wondering to the places it'd gone a couple years ago. She could almost feel her gaze go blank.

"You okay?" Dinah asked, taking another couple of uninterested bites of her food; "Because I don't know that I can be much help right now."

She didn't react right away and Snuffles came up and shoved the chair with his head, "Oh! Sorry, I'm fine," she smiled at using the word she'd talked about earlier, "Well, maybe not completely fine but I'm aware. Thanks though," Lucy took her plate and sat it on the floor for Snuffles. "You done?" she asked, looking at Dinah, "I'm not trying to rush you or anything, but if you are he'll clean up."

"Yeah, sure," Dinah absently lifted up her plate and placed it on the floor by the dog. She stared at Snuffles for a little bit and then abruptly looked up at Lucy; "How have your classes been going? I noticed some of the children seem to be picking on each other. I've noticed some of those problems, too."

"Mostly they're going good. I hate to say this but Septimus is a little snot, which is what causes most of the problems in my third year class. He and Jania tend to go at it at lot because she's one of the few students that will stand up to him. That and she's pretty self confident so she's got the guts to stand up for what she knows is right. I've never seen anything go on in my class, but I have a feeling Tad gets picked on quite a bit. Then there's Lee and Speasy…oh and Derwent Lympsham and Agrona Huntingdon get picked on a bit, but they're sixth years and seem to be taking it fairly well. Agrona tells me Derwent's become more outgoing since they started dating over the summer."

"Mm," Dinah agreed, still staring at Snuffles out of the corner of her eye as he devoured the large amount of ribs she had left on her plate. "I know Derwent and Agrona. The older students are generally better, it's true. It's nice that Agrona, a half blood Slytherin is dating her Muggle-born counterpart. But I'm more concerned with Lee and Speasy. Honestly, the torture he and his infernal friend Wortham inflict on that poor boy. Not that Speasy is on the best behavior all the time, but people need to realize that Slytherins can get picked on, too. And even Gryffindors can be the ones doing the picking. Really, Gryffindors get too much credit sometimes, I think. Honestly, people need to realize the effects that bullying has on others. No one ever thinks about what _they'd_ feel like if they were being bullied. It's wrong to treat other people badly for any reason. I don't care what the reason is. Don't you agree?" she was asking Lucy, but staring at Snuffles.

"Um," she tried to digest all of that. Dinah seemed really invested in the issue but Lucy couldn't figure out why she was staring at Snuffles so intently. She couldn't know about him. She couldn't. "Well, I don't know. I mean I was picked on some, but then I'm the type of person that just ignored it and let it roll off. After all it was just words and the people who picked on me weren't worth my time. I think it becomes a problem when things get physical and people start messing with other peoples stuff. That doesn't mean that the words _never _upset me but," she shrugged not knowing what else to say really.

"Yes, physical. That's bad too. Like stripping people down to their underwear, knocking things out of their hands. The like." Those were rather specific examples, Lucy couldn't help but think. "But sometimes people don't fully understand the emotional effects of verbal abuse. And I suppose it does depend on the person and some people might ignore it. The problem is that you don't know what other issues the person might be facing in their home or personal lives that are affecting how they respond to the teasing."

"That is true," she hesitated to say her next thought but she thought it worth mentioning, "I-I don't want you to think I'm making excuses for bullies when I say this but I think that goes for both sides. I think of Draco Malfoy and the way he was treated by his father, his mother too I think, and it's not exactly hard to see where he got his attitude or ideas that he was better than others."

Snuffles stood, having finished eating, and went to put his head in Lucy's lap again, "No," she said before his face hit her robes, "There's a grubby towel in my bathroom. Go get it and I'll clean you off first."

Dinah sighed. "Sorry, I went off on a tangent there. No, I think you're right. Bullies have their own issues, or at least many of them do. I guess there just need to be better methods of preventing the behavior. But I don't know what those methods are. Probably different depending on those involved."

Lucy nodded, grabbing the towel from the dog and rubbing at his fur, "I don't mind you going off on tangents. Heck, I do it often enough myself. I think you're right though. It depends on the people involved. Generally with Septimus I find either logically countering his arguments or taking points away works in class. I'm afraid I'm a little too reclusive outside of class times to really know what goes on then…I suppose I should try to rectify that."

"There are a lot of students. It's hard to keep track of them all at once. Maybe my survey results will help to tease apart some of the issues."

"Mmm," Lucy said looking down at Snuffles, "We can hope." She kissed his forehead before turning back to Dinah, "Sorry. Some people find that gross I know."

Dinah smiled, but still looked uneasy. "It's okay, I kiss my cat all the time. But I guess you have a class soon. Thanks for having me for lunch, and sorry if I was annoying at all."

"Oh, you weren't annoying at all. Thanks for having lunch with me. I know I just called myself a recluse and all but it saved me from having to listen to Slughorn tell me how wonderful it was to have Sirius come to his party again."

Dinah laughed. "Slughorn is definitely an interesting one." She gave Snuffles an awkward pat as he and Lucy followed her to the door. "I guess I'll see you around, then."

"See you. And try not to worry too much about Professor Snape. Men can be rather stupid at times."

"Sure. I'll try..." Dinah didn't seem too convinced, however, as she wandered off down the hall and Lucy closed the door behind her.

* * *

Later that night with Sirius in his human form again they relaxed in her rooms, not far from where she'd shared lunch with Dinah earlier. "So, um, not that I'm not enjoying having you here, but why are you? Here? On a Tuesday?"

He shrugged, "I missed you and other things, but we'll get to that later. What was with your friend at lunch? Are you sure she's stable?"

Lucy laughed, "I'm quite sure she's stable. She's just got a little crush and he's being rather insensitive or perhaps overly sensitive. I'm not sure which."

"A crush? On Snivelus? Now that's a laugh. Even Lily didn't feel that way about him and she used to call him her friend."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Come on now. Don't you think you're a little old for name calling and such. In case you didn't notice I think that bullying speech was directed at you. Though how she even suspects about Snuffles is beyond me, not to mention how she might have found out about your past with Snape."

Sirius shrugged again, "How should I know? S-Snape does know about Snuffles so if he did tell her it was probably in the hope that she'd go running to the Ministry and I'd be sent back to Azkaban or something."

"Well, why don't we stop worrying about Dinah and her professor and go back to why you've suddenly shown up on a Tuesday?"

Sirius started pacing and looked uncharacteristically nervous, "You didn't tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"You didn't tell me how bad it got. You did. Sort of. But not really."

Lucy was confused, "I didn't have to. Apparently Ginny, Hermione, and Dumbledore did it for me. I didn't think you needed telling a fourth time."

"I'm not talking about that time. I mean the first time. When I died."

"Oh, that time." She did feel guilty about that. Really, she did, but Lucy didn't want to think about what had happened back then, much less talk about it.

"Yes, that time. I went to talk to Molly and Arthur yesterday. They don't really mind us together you know. They're just worried that something's going to happen and you're going to go all zombie-like on them again. Molly said she wrote your father and he took you away for seven months! What happened?"

Lucy curled up and put her arms around her knees. She didn't want to think about that time. In fact she spent a good deal of time not thinking about those months. "I don't remember," she whispered. It wasn't a lie really. She didn't remember a lot of what had happened when he'd taken her…there.

"What do you mean you don't remember?" he was starting to raise his voice.

"I mean don't remember. I-I spent a lot of time inside my own head. I kept thinking about how it wasn't okay. About the life we should have had. I kept thinking about how I wanted to torture and kill Bellatrix. About how that wasn't me. I've never wanted to kill anyone else. Not the people who killed my mother. Not Voldemort. No one."

Sirius sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders, stopping the rocking that had started with her last speech. "I'm sorry."

Lucy shook her head, "That's just it. I don't want you to be sorry. That's one of the reasons I never told you. I don't want you to feel guilty. It's not your fault. You didn't do anything."

"I died. That's what I did."

"But you didn't do it on purpose." In an odd turn of events she seemed to be comforting him rather than the other way around. "I said that before," she laid her head on his shoulder, uncurling just a bit. "Thanks for earlier. What Dinah said…it sort of bothered me."

"I could tell. Is that…is that how it usually is?"

Lucy shook her head, "No, not really. Normally if it's going to be bad, like when Ginny wrote you, I don't realize its happening. I just sort of slide into it. I don't feel it happening. Today I felt it."

"I'm sorry," he said.

"I know."

"How about we head to bed?" he suggested after sitting in silence for awhile.

When they were snuggling in bed Lucy looked up at Sirius, "You can't come tomorrow."

"What?"

She could understand his confusion. Tomorrow was Wednesday after all, the day he usually came to spend the night. "I won't ever get better if you keep showing up here on random days and then coming on the days we agreed on with Dumbledore too. I appreciate that you wanted to come talk to me about what Molly and Arthur told you but I think this is something I have to do on my own. I know, I know," she said when he went to interrupt her, "you're here to help and that's great but always running to you to make me feel better can't always be an option. I'm going to have good days and bad days."

"I know you don't want me to feel like I _have_ to help you but I don't. I want to help you there's a difference."

"Yeah, but still. Can you at least let me try? Please? I promise to write if I need you. Or maybe I could go see Dinah. She's a friend too. And you could come for dinner Friday. I mean I'll have a lot of grading to do this weekend and it'd be easier to do it here, so you could come here this weekend."

He ran a finger gently down the side of her face, "How can I say no to that? Okay. I won't come back until Friday. Unless you beg me too of course."

Lucy laughed, "I won't be begging you I'm sure."

"Oh, yes you will. Sooner than you think," he said laughing and covering her face with kisses.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

By dinner on Thursday Lucy was determined to be more social. Slughorn was missing from dinner again so at least social wouldn't have to mean bored to tears tonight. She moved over to occupy his empty seat. Maybe if she _looked_ like she was being social she actually would be.

Minerva looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

Lucy shrugged, "I'm trying to be more social and sitting over there by myself is not very social."

The older professor nodded, "That's probably a wise decision. How are you today?"

By now she knew Professor McGonagall was watching her for signs of a relapse. She also knew that both Dumbledore and Minerva were aware Sirius had been there on Tuesday and that Lucy had asked him to stay away until Friday. "I'm okay. Mostly. I've been worried about Dinah. She seemed kind of depressed until today and I guess worrying about her kept me from worrying about myself."

"I'm not sure trading one worry for another is really the best way to go about improving your situation."

Lucy smiled and shrugged, "I suppose not, but it is an improvement from plotting the torture and death of a person who's already dead. Which is what usually leads me to having an…episode, or whatever you want to call it."

"Yes, well. If it helps for now I suppose."

"It seems to," Lucy gestured to the other end of the table, "What do you make of those two?"

Minerva looked down towards the two professors' who weren't talking but also appeared to be sneaking glances at each other. The corners of her lips lifted slightly, "I'm not sure yet. I do think having a friend to debate with will be good for Severus. He is knowledgeable about many things but he can be entirely too full of himself sometimes. Perhaps it even has something to do with his reason for being brought back."

"Maybe," Lucy murmured. She had the sudden thought that perhaps they'd been looking at this whole revival thing the wrong way. Perhaps it wasn't so much that the people themselves had been brought back for some great purpose. Perhaps it was because they were needed by someone else. Maybe that was their purpose, not some grand, noble one.

* * *

Monday morning Lucy sat at the breakfast table trying to keep her eyes open. She and Sirius had hardly left her rooms all weekend and now she was paying the price.

She woke up in a hurry when a pair of hands smacked themselves on the table in front of her.

"Lucy!" Dinah said, practically attacking her from the other side of the table.

"Um, what?"

"I know you don't like the Ministry, but you do know people there, right?"

The question was a rather odd one, Lucy thought. "It's the Ministry itself I have a problem with not the people that work there, but yes I know people there."

"Do you think you might be able to ask one of your connections to get some information on magical creatures for me? Ghosts, specifically. Do they have a department on that? I was hoping for some reference books. Ones that aren't found in Hogwarts."

"Um, I can try. I don't really know anyone in that department but Kingsley's the new Minister so he might be able to help. Have you tried asking your boyfriend? He's got plenty of books I've noticed."

Dinah blushed. Probably because she'd called Professor Snape Dinah's boyfriend. "He showed me his books yesterday, but we couldn't find what I was looking for. The Ministry is my last viable option right now."

Lucy smiled, "And you didn't think to ask _me_ if I had any books on that? I mean I do realize most of my books are fiction, but I usually find that there's a grain of truth in even the most outlandish stories."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you think you have anything that's relevant?"

"No, not that I can think of. I mean I can go through my books here. Of course a good portion of them are split between Grimmauld Place and the Burrow. Tonks probably has some too. I lost a bunch with all the moving around with the war and that. I'll keep an eye out and in the mean time I can put you in touch with Kingsley. We could actually go there if you really wanted, but I'm not sure what my reception would be given how I left."

"Well, whatever works for you," Dinah said.

"I don't mind going. I'm probably more familiar with the Ministry than you anyway. _When_ we go might be a bit of an issue though," Lucy chewed her lower lip. It would probably be most plausible to go there on a weekend, but she was afraid she might not be able to handle such a long span in between seeing Sirius. Of course it could possibly be a day trip or perhaps the three of them could stay at Grimmauld Place.

"I'm willing to be flexible with whatever's best for you," Dinah said. "Plus, I don't think it will take that long. But it can't be during classes, of course. I don't know what normal Ministry hours are."

"Oh, there's pretty much someone there around the clock. If we want to see Kingsley it would probably be a good idea to go during the day sometime. We can always stay at Grimmauld Place if we have to and Sirius could come. If you don't mind him tagging along that is."

"Oh," Dinah frowned. "Sure, I guess that's okay. But let's just do a day thing, not overnight. I have grading to do... work better in my office here..."

"That's fine," Lucy said, "We should probably consult our schedules, and the school schedule too. I think it'll be important for us to be here for things like Quidditch matches, feasts, and the like."

"Yeah, and I don't... _think_ that I'm in a rush. It's not dire really, I'm just looking to help someone..." she trailed off. A moment later she smiled. "Thanks, it'll be a big help. Guess I should let you eat your breakfast now, though."

"Alright, just let me know when you want to go. You know, if you want you can sit in Slughorn's seat. At this point I doubt he's coming and I'm quite awake now," Lucy smiled. She wondered if Dinah had noticed her somewhat sleepy state earlier.

"Now?" Dinah shook her head, confused. "Oh, thanks, but I think I need to go over and sit by Severus before Hagrid or Professor Vector comes and gets in the way. I've got my work cut out f or me with him, you know," she grinned.

Lucy laughed, "I understand. Good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it," Dinah laughed and hurried happily away to the other side of the table, plopping down into Hagrid's seat next to Severus.

* * *

Lucy was excited to teach her seventh years that day. She had to admit to herself that it might have something to do with how the research she'd been doing in her spare time coincided with what she was teaching her students.

"Alright, who can tell me where we left off last time?"

Luna raised her hand, "We were discussing the possibility of Katherine Howard being a witch and the connection between her and Anne Boleyn."

"Right," Lucy said, "Now, I know this is a literature class and we haven't started Anne Boleyn's book yet, but we have read a little bit about her in Katherine's story. As you know, Katherine's book posited that she was actually a witch like her cousin. However, I might not have mentioned that I believe there is a grain of truth in every story. It might be nearly non-existent and hard to tease out of the fiction but it is there."

"I read some where once that fiction had to be more logical than the truth so that people would believe it," Luna said in her dreamy voice, "I think that's true but sometimes we have to believe the unbelievable too. Why hardly any one believes in the Crumple Horned Snorcack but they're real creatures."

"Well, um, yes exactly Luna. My point is that if someone thought to write about Mistress Howard being a witch there must have been a small hint somewhere, to someone who was paying attention, that she was in fact a witch, much like her more famous cousin."

Another student, Logan, raised his hand, "I found it interesting that only those two girls were the only ones in the large Howard family to be so much as suspected of witchcraft. At least according to the book."

"Yes, my thoughts exactly. I haven't talked about it with Professor Samson but I've been taking my love of historical fiction and using it, along with some of the biographical research I tend to do in conjunction with the fiction, to see if I can notice any trends among various Muggle-borns in history. Now I'm not really familiar with genetics and how that influences wizards, no matter their blood status, but it struck me that the author of _Fall From Grace_ felt the need to point out that Katherine and Anne were the only witches in the family."

"But magic doesn't necessarily run in families," Hermione pointed out.

"Well, now that's not exactly true. While it can happen that two magic parents will produce a non-magic child, what we would commonly call a squib, it's very rare. And from what I know parents who are Muggle-born do not have any greater chance of having a non-magic child than any other wizard. From that one could assume that magic does indeed run in families. And in case anyone was wondering how this connected to literature I'd have to tell you the same thing I've told my friends. If it didn't matter, why would the author bother to include it in the story?"

"If they're a decent author they wouldn't," Ginny answered. "You don't want to annoy your readers by including information that has no bearing on the story being told or have them expecting that information to become important later, then have nothing happen. It annoys your readers."

"Right. Which brings us back to trying to figure out why the author would choose to include that information in the first place. Something that adds another layer of mystery is that Anne's only child who survived infancy was not a witch. There may have been some of her contemporaries who believed Elizabeth to be a witch like her mother, but here was absolutely no evidence that she had a shred of magic in her. Of course that doesn't mean she was a squib. There's just no evidence for either thing and Elizabeth is one of the most well documented monarchs in British history."

"Maybe the author included the comment because he thought it was important," another student commented.

"Are we then to assume that we are supposed to be interpreting the meaning of the text through the author's intentions? After all one of the ways we can interpret the text is how it relates to the author's intentions and beliefs. Or should we be thinking about how the text could be a reflection of something the author saw in the world?" Lucy asked, steering the discussion back towards literature and literary theory, even though she'd been the one to take it in the direction they'd gone. "You may not realize this but both of the stories we'll be reading this year were written in the early 1700's. We happen to be reading the modern language versions so they're easier for us to read and interpret, but it is the same story that was written nearly three hundred years ago."

Hermione, ever the proper student, raised her hand and waited to be called on before saying, "I think we can look at it as the imitation of something in the world. Based solely on the fact that this is historical fiction I think we have to consider it as a reflection. The author is reflecting the beliefs he saw in the world, but also the lives and culture of the people in the Tudor court."

Lucy nodded, "Exactly my thoughts. It seems to me that the author may have thought the information about the cousins being the only witches in the family was important because they may have been looking for the magic to run in families. They wouldn't have been entirely off base but it's also very possible that the two women where both Muggle-borns who happened to be related. We already know that that is a possibility and not something that holds any particular meaning."

The class continued on, though it turned into mostly a discussion between Lucy and Hermione with a few occasional interruptions by other students.

Monday morning Lucy sat at the breakfast table trying to keep her eyes open. She and Sirius had hardly left her rooms all weekend and now she was paying the price.

She woke up in a hurry when a pair of hands smacked themselves on the table in front of her.

"Lucy!" Dinah said, practically attacking her from the other side of the table.

"Um, what?"

"I know you don't like the Ministry, but you do know people there, right?"

The question was a rather odd one, Lucy thought. "It's the Ministry itself I have a problem with not the people that work there, but yes I know people there."

"Do you think you might be able to ask one of your connections to get some information on magical creatures for me? Ghosts, specifically. Do they have a department on that? I was hoping for some reference books. Ones that aren't found in Hogwarts."

"Um, I can try. I don't really know anyone in that department but Kingsley's the new Minister so he might be able to help. Have you tried asking your boyfriend? He's got plenty of books I've noticed."

Dinah blushed. Probably because she'd called Professor Snape Dinah's boyfriend. "He showed me his books yesterday, but we couldn't find what I was looking for. The Ministry is my last viable option right now."

Lucy smiled, "And you didn't think to ask _me_ if I had any books on that? I mean I do realize most of my books are fiction, but I usually find that there's a grain of truth in even the most outlandish stories."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you think you have anything that's relevant?"

"No, not that I can think of. I mean I can go through my books here. Of course a good portion of them are split between Grimmauld Place and the Burrow. Tonks probably has some too. I lost a bunch with all the moving around with the war and that. I'll keep an eye out and in the mean time I can put you in touch with Kingsley. We could actually go there if you really wanted, but I'm not sure what my reception would be given how I left."

"Well, whatever works for you," Dinah said.

"I don't mind going. I'm probably more familiar with the Ministry than you anyway. _When_ we go might be a bit of an issue though," Lucy chewed her lower lip. It would probably be most plausible to go there on a weekend, but she was afraid she might not be able to handle such a long span in between seeing Sirius. Of course it could possibly be a day trip or perhaps the three of them could stay at Grimmauld Place.

"I'm willing to be flexible with whatever's best for you," Dinah said. "Plus, I don't think it will take that long. But it can't be during classes, of course. I don't know what normal Ministry hours are."

"Oh, there's pretty much someone there around the clock. If we want to see Kingsley it would probably be a good idea to go during the day sometime. We can always stay at Grimmauld Place if we have to and Sirius could come. If you don't mind him tagging along that is."

"Oh," Dinah frowned. "Sure, I guess that's okay. But let's just do a day thing, not overnight. I have grading to do... work better in my office here..."

"That's fine," Lucy said, "We should probably consult our schedules, and the school schedule too. I think it'll be important for us to be here for things like Quidditch matches, feasts, and the like."

"Yeah, and I don't... _think_ that I'm in a rush. It's not dire really, I'm just looking to help someone..." she trailed off. A moment later she smiled. "Thanks, it'll be a big help. Guess I should let you eat your breakfast now, though."

"Alright, just let me know when you want to go. You know, if you want you can sit in Slughorn's seat. At this point I doubt he's coming and I'm quite awake now," Lucy smiled. She wondered if Dinah had noticed her somewhat sleepy state earlier.

"Now?" Dinah shook her head, confused. "Oh, thanks, but I think I need to go over and sit by Severus before Hagrid or Professor Vector comes and gets in the way. I've got my work cut out f or me with him, you know," she grinned.

Lucy laughed, "I understand. Good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it," Dinah laughed and hurried happily away to the other side of the table, plopping down into Hagrid's seat next to Severus.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Today was not going to be a good day and this time it had nothing with Sirius. She pushed the food around her plate at breakfast, staring at the ring on her right hand.

"You seem to be a bit unsettled this morning Professor Ketteridge," Slughorn commented.

Lucy was surprised he noticed her mood. Normally he chattered on and on and it always seemed he was oblivious to whether or not she was paying attention. She smiled and shrugged, "I'm okay. It's just the day."

"Yes, it is rather grey today isn't it?" He commented, looking up at the cloudy sky of the Great Hall.

She nodded, "It looks like it might rain later too. How is Eugene's potion coming?" She hoped that would keep him from asking what was wrong with her, but she was also interested in how the assistant's experiment was going. It certainly seemed to occupy a lot of Dinah and Professor Snape's time. In fact she'd hardly seen Dinah since she'd asked about going to the Ministry.

"Good, good! Severus had a few suggestions for ingredients that Eugene tried and one of them seems to be working rather well. Eugene says he has some more ideas to make the potion longer lasting and he thinks it should be ready to test on humans soon. Spends a lot of time experimenting with the potion, the boy does."

Lucy rolled her eyes and listened and Slughorn continued to ramble on about Eugene and his youthening potion. Maybe it had something to do with her age but she couldn't figure out why someone would want to youthen themselves. She'd worked hard to get to a point in her life where people wouldn't think she was too young and inexperienced to want to go backwards in time.

She looked out over the students eating breakfast. Some were scrambling to finish homework and others were just wandering in. She had enjoyed her time as a student here, but her teenage years weren't something she wished to repeat. Adolescence was hard enough without the added pressures of dating, being sporty, looking just so, keeping decent grades, being generally considered cool and, worst of all acne. No, there just wasn't any reason she could see to subject herself to that a second time. You could count her out as a volunteer for testing Eugene's potion.

* * *

Multiple times that day she had people come up to her and ask her how she was doing. They said she looked a little down. Lucy found it almost funny that everyone seemed to notice her mood that particular day but she could be in a functioning, almost zombie-like state and hardly anyone asked her how she was doing. Did everyone know what had happened seventeen years ago to make her feel sad or was it something else?

She got her answer after dinner when Professor McGonagall stopped by her rooms. "I understand this is a particularly upsetting day for you," Minerva said, settling into a chair.

"How do you… oh, never mind. I forgot we talked about it during an Order meeting. That seems like it was so long ago."

"A lot has happened since then but yes, it does seem like a lot more time has passed since those days."

Lucy sighed, "I'll be fine you know. It's different than the other thing. I just…I don't think I'll ever really understand."

Minerva shook her head, "There's nothing to understand. Your mother was killed in a senseless act. Would knowing why they picked her or who exactly did it help?"

"No, I know that but it's still hard to wrap my mind around. If she hadn't been killed…"

"If she hadn't been killed, you wouldn't be where you are today."

"Do you think she'd have approved? Of the things I've done? My choices? Of…Sirius?"

"I didn't know her well but I think she would have been happy for you. You're her child and I think, no matter whether or not she agreed with some of your choices she would have been happy as long as you were happy. Sirius makes you happy, she would see that and perhaps even thank him for it."

Lucy smiled, "Thanks. It's good to hear things like that from people who knew her."

"You knew her too. Better than I did I'm sure."

"I knew her as a child. I still remember her as someone who had all the answers. Sometimes I wish I could ask her for those answers. Even though I know she probably wouldn't have all of them, but that's how I remember her."

Minerva stood, "If you think you'll be alright then I suppose I shall leave you to your evening."

Lucy stood and walked her to the door, "I'll be fine. Thanks for caring though."

Minerva smiled and Lucy closed the door behind her, deciding she would do some grading before going to bed.

* * *

"In case you think I forgot what yesterday was, here," Sirius said, pulling a small rectangular present out of his robe pocket.

Lucy was confused, but took the present. "I'm glad you remembered yesterday, but why in the world would you give me a present for that."

"People generally give others presents on their birthdays."

Now she frowned. He thought yesterday was her birthday? How in the world did he get that idea? She distinctly remembered celebrating her birthday at Grimmauld Place after Uncle Arthur had been attacked by that snake. Surely he at least remembered there was snow? "But yesterday wasn't my birthday."

"Yes, it was. October twentieth. I remember. We had a party. The whole Order was there, well most of it anyway."

Lucy shook her head and sat across from where he'd been standing, "No, they weren't. We did have a party but it was only Aunt Molly, Uncle Arthur, Tonks, Remus, and the two of us. It snowed."

"No, I'm sure it was in October."

"I think I should know when I was born and it wasn't in October. It was in January. _January_ twentieth. Not October. Yes, we had a meeting in October with most of the Order present but had nothing to do with my birthday."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded emphatically, beginning to get angry, "Yes, very, but you can always write Aunt Molly if you don't believe me. She was there."

"Really? I was sure yesterday was an important day. I'm sorry. I honestly thought yesterday was your birthday. Maybe being dead for two years actually did have some ill effects."

Lucy looked down so he couldn't see her face and started picking at the wrapping on the present. Sometimes her anger seemed to be hardwired to her tear ducts and they seemed to be going into overdrive at the moment. "Don't say that," she whispered. "Up until now being dead has had no effect on your ability to remember things. You just weren't paying attention. You didn't care to remember."

"That's not true! I remember Molly made you a chocolate cake with purple frosting."

"It was yellow cake with green frosting," she'd finally picked at the wrapping enough that she was able to see what the present actually was. "A wand case? You thought it was my birthday and you thought a good present for your girlfriend would be a wand case?"

"It's a very nice wand case. Made out of oak and it has your name engraved on the cover. I thought you'd like a place to put your wand at night."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "I'm an ex-Auror do you really think I'd put my wand in a wand case. Think of the time it'd take to get it out of there if I needed it quickly!"

"I actually thought about a book, but I think you own nearly all of them."

"Don't be sarcastic, please," she said, finally looking up at him, "If you weren't sure when my birthday was _why_ didn't you just ask me? I wouldn't have gotten mad. We haven't been dating all that long. We weren't…even…then." Great, now the tears were actually falling down her cheeks.

"You're crying. Don't cry," he said, looking extremely worried.

"Don't tell me how to feel! This is upsetting! I'm allowed to be upset," she was starting to yell and the tears were now flowing freely down her face. "I thought," she gulped, "I thought you were paying more attention to me than that. Clearly I was just being a stupid girl with a stupid crush on a guy who barely noticed me."

"That's not true and you know it!" he started yelling back. "I _thought_ I knew when it was! No one ever actually came out and told me the date I just happened to be unable to leave the house which was why I was there! And does it really matter if I don't remember what kind of cake Molly made you that year?"

"No, it doesn't. But it's nice to know the only reason you came to my party was because you couldn't leave the house!"

"I didn't mean it that way! And I noticed you! You know I did but it's not like we ever had a conversation that went much beyond what was going on at the time! We flirted, we had fun and we laughed! I wanted to be with you!"

If she'd still been calm perhaps she would have seen that the screaming match was getting them no where but she sometimes had a temper to match her hair. "Nobody told me when your birthday was and I wasn't around to celebrate it but I still know when it is! December third, in case you don't believe me."

"Yes, well, you would know those sort of things wouldn't you? You're a girl. It's what they do, remembering all sorts of 'anniversaries' just to drive men crazy."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Thank you for that observation. I hadn't noticed I wasn't a man. In case _you_ hadn't noticed I don't make up all sorts of anniversaries to drive you crazy! I could careless what day it was when you first looked at me or held my hand or the first time you played with my hair! I don't care when those things happened, just that they did. Yesterday," she took a breath, "was an important day and I didn't expect you to remember it. Not many people do. Not that they really have a reason too but it was sort of overshadowed by an event that happened eighteen years ago on Halloween night!"

"Eighteen years ago…you mean James and Lily?"

Lucy nodded, "Yeah, that. Eleven days before the Potters were killed, my mother was murdered. I don't know why or by who and it didn't matter because about two weeks later the Potters were dead and Voldemort had disappeared. With everything that happened after that my mother sort of disappeared from people's minds. At least the ones who knew about her anyway. She became a nothing in the midst of a something. Yesterday was the day my mother was killed. I was sad," Lucy said wiping her eyes, beginning to calm down, "I thought just maybe you remembered. We talked about it during a meeting of the Order that October you remember. I thought you might have gotten me something to make me feel better. It made feel special and loved. Finding out you thought it was my birthday…"she shook her head, "That did _not_ make me feel special or loved."

Sirius sighed and moved so he sat next to Lucy, "Come here," he said, pulling her onto his lap and resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't mean to make you feel that way but I truly thought yesterday was your birthday. My present sucked, I know. I probably should have gotten flowers, huh?"

Lucy nodded and sniffed, "Yeah, flowers would have been better."

"So, January twentieth huh? I'll remember that." Lucy snorted. "I will! I can remember things. I remember not being able to take my eyes off you the first time we met. You looked nervous, excited, scared, and so proud of what you were doing. Then you saw Charlie was there and you looked so incredibly happy to see him. I remember being jealous of him when you hugged him with such enthusiasm."

Lucy laughed, "You're kidding me. We're obviously related."

"I'm serious. I could have decked him. I knew there was something about you I was going to want to keep around then."

She giggled and played with the front of his robes, "Really? I never knew you were Sirius. All this time I though you were someone else."

He slapped at her hand, "Hey now. No making silly jokes like that. You're not the first one to say such a thing."

She smiled, knowing he wasn't really upset with her, "I'm sorry," she said, going back to playing with his robes. "I shouldn't have yelled like that. It's just…I miss my mum."

He rubbed her back and said the only thing he could think of to say, "I know." 


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

It was before dawn and Sirius was awake. He had to go soon if he didn't want to risk being seen. He'd meant to ask Lucy something last night but after their fight he wasn't so sure it would be a good idea. Her mother had died, abandoned her. So had he. The two people she cared most about in life had left her. He couldn't leave her…

Lucy rolled over, facing him in the small single bed. Her hand came up to rub at her eyes before she opened them. "Sirius? You have to leave soon?"

"Yeah, I should be going."

"Everything okay? You sound…off. Did something happen that you haven't had a chance to tell me about?"

He laughed and kissed her, simply enjoying the fact that he could for a few moments. "Everything's fine. I just got a letter from Harry saying he had to be in London for a couple days and wondered if he could stay at Grimmauld Place."

Lucy smiled, "As far as I'm concerned he doesn't have to ask, but you should go down and see him. You two really haven't gotten to spend that much time together."

He cocked one eyebrow at her, "It's this weekend. I don't want to leave you that long."

"You have to do it sooner or later. I've been fine recently, no scary zombie moods or anything like that. Besides, if need be Dinah and Minerva are around. Dumbledore too. I think you should go."

"Are you sure?" he asked, wearily.

She smiled, "Go. I'll be fine."

* * *

She'd lied. Lucy thought she would be fine and she was on Friday. But it was Saturday evening and she wasn't at all fine. She paced back and forth in her room, trying not to start crying hysterically. She was already crying. Dora had been keeping unusually close to her since dinner the day before and now Lucy could barely take a step without hurting her cat.

Before Sirius had left he'd made her promise to ask for help if she needed it. Dinah was closest, but she'd been spending a lot of time with Severus Snape and Lucy was sure she wouldn't want her interrupting anything that might be going on.

Lucy wiped her eyes and headed for the door. Well, she'd stop by Dinah's and if she was busy she'd go to McGonagall. She'd rather stay with Dinah but she was _not_ going to get into the middle of that particular relationship. She justified even stopping at her rooms because Dinah's were on the way to McGonagall's so she might as well stop by.

Screw it. She was going to see Dinah and ask for help whether or not her boyfriend was there. She had emotional issues and she needed help with them. If Severus Snape couldn't understand that than that was his problem.

She headed out her door with a wad of tissues in one hand and Dora underfoot. It didn't take long before she reached her friends door, but like before she couldn't seem to make herself knock. Dora either sensed that or, the more likely scenario, she just wanted to get in and see Godric, so she began scratching at the door.

The door opened, Dinah standing behind it. She looked like she'd been about to say something and then changed her mind to say, "Oh... hi."

"Hi," she responded, blowing her nose. "Can…can I come in?"

"Oh. Of course," Dinah stepped aside, allowing Lucy the access she needed to enter through the doorway. "Is everything okay?"

She entered and headed straight for Dinah's couch. She sat on it, pulling her knees up to her chin. She was slightly surprised that Dora stayed pressed up against her rather than going off to visit Dinah's cat. "No," she whispered, "everything is not okay. I don't think I should be by myself tonight. I'm sorry, I didn't ask if you were busy. Are you busy? You've seemed busy lately."

"Oh..." Dinah began for the third time coming to stand in front of the couch. "No, I'm not busy. I was really just taking a nap, that's all. Please stay if you need to. I'm so sorry if I've seemed rude lately. Slughorn kept asking Severus and me to help him and Eugene out... I probably should have said no more often but it was hard to. And I got to spend time with Severus so..." she shrugged. "But I should have been more social. I'm sorry. I was going to say that when you came in but you looked so upset I forgot to at first."

"I understand. This," she said, pointing at her face, "is not your fault. It's mine, I'm an idiot."

Dinah smiled a little, and sat down on the opposite side of the couch. "Oh, I wouldn't say that. It's not always easy to be in control of ones self when something upsetting happens, which I assume has. Experience has taught me that instead of putting yourself down you should probably just accept how you're feeling and let yourself feel that way if you need to. Although I don't know that I'm necessarily good at it. It's easy to yell at yourself. I think we all feel that way."

"Well, I _feel_ like an idiot. I shouldn't have told him to go, but how could I not? I mean, he, ah, he wasn't even going to tell me and then he did and he sat there and said he didn't have to go. He didn't want to leave me alone that long. I'll be fine, I said. Idiot." She sniffed and wiped at her eyes, reaching down to stroke Dora. Really, she should have known this would happen.

"I'm sorry, Lucy," Dinah said gently, "But I don't quite understand. Could you explain that again? What happened?" Dinah watched Lucy try to get a hold of herself as Godric hopped onto the couch and started sniffing Dora.

She looked down to watch the two cats inspect each other, "Sorry, my brain and my mouth aren't quite connecting apparently. Sirius got a letter from Harry saying he was going to be in London this weekend and wondered if it was okay that he stay at Grimmauld Place. I told Sirius to go and spend some time with him. They've hardly seen each other since the battle. He asked me about fifty times if I was sure it was okay and I had to promise to go talk to somebody if I was feeling less than stellar."

"Well, then I don't think you're an idiot. You're feeling bad and you came to talk to somebody, just like you said you would. I guess you were hoping you wouldn't feel bad at all though, huh? Godric, stop that!" she reached over and grabbed her cat, who had started pawing at Dora's ears.

Lucy smiled and almost felt like laughing, "Well, at least someone's having fun this weekend." She lowered her legs and let Dora, who was giving the larger brown cat a rather haughty look, climb up on her lap. "I don't like feeling like this. I wish I could spend more than two days alone without turning into an emotional wreck."

"Maybe it's not as bad as you think," Dinah said. "I mean, maybe you don't have to be _alone_ alone to be making progress. Most people at least socialize with somebody even if they're not with their significant other. So if you and I can spend some time together and you're doing okay, I think that's a good thing. So how about that? We can do something fun."

Lucy nodded, "I'm willing to try it. I think maybe it's more because I'm used to being alone that I think I need to be alone to be improving. I spent a good deal of my childhood alone and when I was on missions for the Order I was alone."

"I was kind of like that at Hogwarts," Dinah said quietly. "So I know how it goes. I had a lot more friends in the Muggle world... Actually, according to my preliminary survey data, a lot of the Muggle-born Slytherins are like that."

"I've noticed that…about the Slytherins that is," Lucy shrugged, "There weren't a lot of kids around where I grew up and even though I had my cousins I didn't see them much before I came to Hogwarts. And I had Tonks. That was all I needed really."

"I would have wanted more, if I could have gotten it," Dinah said, then shook her head and stood up. "But that's in the past now. How about we watch a Muggle movie? I haven't done that in a while, and the newness of it might help to get your mind off things."

Lucy perked up at the thought of doing a Muggle thing, "A movie? It's sort of like a play right? That'd be nice. I like watching plays."

"Great!" Dinah stood from the couch. "Yeah, it's similar but a bit different. What kind of movie would you like to watch? I'm thinking that a comedy might be good for you right now, but don't let me make up your mind for you."

Lucy nodded vigorously, "A comedy sounds nice. I mean some can be pretty stupid but there's only one way to find out. Right?"

"Right. I'll pick a good one," Dinah smiled. "Wait right here and I'll go get the telly."

"Telly?" Lucy was extremely curious when her friend brought out a small black box with some sort of glass on the front of it.

"Yes, I'm sure your Uncle Arthur must have at least mentioned it before. Telly is short for television set." She waved her wand at the box and a small spell surrounded it. "I do that so it works in Hogwarts." She pushed the button and it came on to some sort of black and white mess, then she placed the VCR next to it and put in a cassette, pushing play. The screen lit up with a logo.

"Oh, yes. I remember him talking about these. Muggles use them for all sorts of things right? Like for reading the newspaper and watching plays. Or movies, I guess you call them. Oh, what's that?" she asked pointing at the green screen, before reading, "This preview has been approved for all audiences. What does that mean?"

Dinah laughed. "A preview shows clips from other movies so you can decide if you want to see them or not. Approved for all audiences just means they didn't put any swearing or racy material in the selected clips, so anybody can watch it."

"Ah. Well, that's nice of them. I don't mind a bit of swearing or sex, but it's nice to be warned if there's going to be excessive amounts of it," Lucy snuggled into her corner of the couch, "I'm sorry I don't mean to be a pain but do you have a blanket I could borrow? Sirius likes to tease me but I like to be as wrapped up as I can get when I'm reading or sleeping or, well, watching a movie I guess. Plus it's getting cold out."

"Sure," Dinah reached underneath the couch and pulled out a pile of various blankets, afghans, throws, and comforters. She grinned and placed it on the couch in-between them. "Take your pick."

Lucy pulled out an afghan and wrapped herself up in it, "Thanks." Dora protested being stuck under the blanket and Lucy lifted the edge so she could wander around the couch. She didn't go far from Lucy, but the cat was no longer glued to her side.

They had just gotten into the beginning of the film when a sharp knock sounded on Dinah's door. Lucy noticed the slight flush rising in Dinah's cheeks. Her friend stood from the couch. "Excuse me, I'll just go and get that." She hit the pause button on the remote control and headed to the door.

Lucy gasped, "Hey, how'd you do that? Oh, never mind you can tell me after you take care of the door."

Dinah laughed and flashed a smile before turning to the door and opening it. From the sound of the voice Lucy could tell it was Professor Snape but she pointedly tried not to listen to what they were saying, not wanting to eavesdrop.

She did hear Dinah say "Well, sort of, but you can always join us."

To which Snape responded, "Us?"

"Yes," Dinah said stepping to the side, revealing Lucy to her visitor.

Snape gave her a curt nod and she responded with what she hoped was a normal smile.

"Lucy and I are watching a movie," Dinah told him.

Dora, she noticed hid under the couch while Godric, in contrast ran to greet the man at the door.

Lucy again tried not to look at them or pay attention to what was going on. Instead she unwrapped herself and attempted to get Dora out from under the couch. She may not have been listening to the actual words but she could tell from his tone that Snape was not pleased. It was a tone she'd heard often enough as a student to recognize nearly eight years later.

She hoped they weren't fighting because of her. It would be a shame if Dinah ended up depressed again, but short of running from the room there wasn't much she could do about it and she certainly wasn't going to do such a thing anyway.

Dinah soon closed the door and walked back over to Lucy, who was now holding Dora and trying to wrap herself back up at the same time. "Sorry about that. He has Muggle-hatred issues."

Lucy shrugged, "It's okay. I tried not to eavesdrop. My cat decided to turn coward and hid under the couch. Large dogs that could eat her in one bite she doesn't have a problem with, but apparently she finds Professor Snape very scary."

Dinah laughed, putting her cat down on the floor where he went and started sniffing around Dora again; "Not Godric. He loves Severus. Not sure exactly why, but he always wants to play with him. Severus, of course, has no clue how to respond to something like that."

Lucy smiled, "That's funny to picture." She let Dora down again, wiggling her fingers at Godric. "Well, if Godric likes him then he must be pretty special. There are some people animals just will not take a liking to. Cass, my mum's cat, absolutely hated Nick. Nick Hill that is. I brought Cass with me to Hogwarts when I came. He died not too long after I graduated…Cass, not Nick."

"Aw, sorry to hear that, even though it was a long time ago," Dinah said. "And it's true; animals are good judges of character. Severus is actually pretty great, once you can get through his barriers. His true nature is a lot different from how he acts in front of most people. Although I think I'm only starting to scratch the surface of his true personality. I hope he opens up to me the longer we're together."

"Thanks," Lucy said, "He sort of became my cat after Mum died. I think he missed her just as much as I did. Professor Snape will open up more the more time you spend with him I think. I've never seen him willingly seek out anyone's company besides Dumbledore's before."

Dinah smiled, idly stroking Godric's fur when he jumped back up next to her. "Yeah, he actually came over here willingly today. Such progress," she laughed, and then Lucy's earlier words seemed to hit her. "Oh, I didn't realize your mother passed away. That must have been tough."

"Yeah, it was. I was eight. She was killed eleven days before the Potters. It was…kind of a weird time."

"Oh... the Potters. Do you know... who did it?"

Lucy shook her head, "No. I mean the authorities were pretty sure it was Death Eaters but no specific person. Tuesday was the anniversary of her death."

"Oh... I'm sorry," Dinah, changed the subject back to the movie. "So would you like me to push play again? It's on pause right now. The remote control here does it," she handed the black item to Lucy.

Lucy carefully turned the item over in her hands, "Is this like a wand? With buttons? All the buttons have a different function?"

"Yes," Dinah pointed, "Push the one that says 'play'."

Lucy pushed it and the people on the screen began moving again, "Wow. Muggles really do have their own sort of magic, don't they?"

Dinah smiled. "Yes. And that's what I've been sort of trying to get across to the students." They continued to watch the movie, and Lucy really enjoyed it. She was glad she had someone to hangout with here at Hogwarts; that she didn't have to be alone. She didn't enjoying feeling like a burden to her friend though and that was sometimes why she didn't ask for help when she needed it.

After awhile Lucy began to sink lower and lower on the couch so that she was curled up on one half with her head resting on the arm. She did want to see how the movie ended, it was rather funny, but she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. It probably had something to do with the large amount of energy she'd expended crying today. Eventually she stopped fighting it and let herself fall asleep on Dinah's couch.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Lucy rubbed her eyes, sitting up and looking around sleepily. She must have fallen asleep during the movie because she didn't remember seeing the end. Dora seemed to think she didn't need to be so close for now, as Lucy couldn't find either of the cats. Sighing, she stood and headed to the bathroom. She was hungry, but figured she could wait until Dinah woke up. After all, she'd think it rude if someone fell asleep on her couch and then snuck away before morning.

When she was done she went back out to sit at the kitchen table and wait for Dinah. It wasn't too much longer when her friend came out of the bedroom smiling and wearing a morning robe over her pajamas. "Good morning," she said.

"Morning," Lucy responded, "Sorry for falling asleep on you last night."

"That's all right. I hope you weren't annoyed that I didn't wake you up. You seemed peaceful enough and I didn't want to bother you." Dinah sat down at the table. "Would you like some coffee or breakfast?"

"I was actually pretty comfortable, thanks. Coffee with cream and sugar would be great and breakfast too if you don't mind."

She smiled and stood, "Sure. I'll get some plates and make some coffee and then we can summon up whatever they're serving for breakfast today." It turned out breakfast was eggs, sausage, and toast with jam after Dinah had sat back down and given Lucy a mug of coffee. "So I'd been meaning to ask you when would be a good time to go to the Ministry," Dinah said after she took a bite of sausage.

"Hmm. Well, we could go today if you wanted. If you hadn't made plans with Professor Snape that is. I mean Severus. I'm so used to calling him professor, but I guess I should try and get myself out of that habit."

"Today would be fine. I was hoping we could do it before Halloween. And it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours so I'll just go tell Severus that I won't be back until later."

"All right. I could send an owl to Grimmauld Place and maybe we could meet up with Sirius and Harry for lunch or something. If you don't mind. Or I could just stop by there after we're done at the Ministry."

"Oh, lunch sounds fun," Dinah said. "It would be nice to meet Harry, since we couldn't at Slughorn's party."

Lucy laughed. Dinah seemed pretty excited to possibly be meeting the famous Harry Potter. Lucy herself had been impressed with his talent but he'd always seemed like a fairly normal teen to her. Except for the circumstances he tended to find himself in. "He's really a pretty normal kid. Talented and on the mature side for his age but still normal."

"Oh, no," Dinah said, a little embarrassed. "I think so, too. I just still would be interested in meeting him. I mean, it seems everybody here but me already knows him, and I was so disconnected from everything that happened over the past seven years."

"Ah, right. I mostly got to know Harry through Sirius and my cousins. He's got some stories to tell that's for sure." Lucy took her last bite of egg and followed it with the last of her coffee, "Well, I could go change into some robes that I haven't slept in and send off a quick note while you go talk to…Severus. If you're ready."

"Sure," Dinah finished her own coffee and stood. "You probably need time for Sirius to get the note? I'll just get ready for the day and we can meet at the entrance way at around eleven?"

"That sounds fine," she stood and headed for the door. "Dinah? Thanks for wanting to hang out with me today. I mean I feel okay now, but after yesterday…"

She smiled. "You're welcome. And I'll try to be better about it in the future. Dumbledore has already kind of suggested that Severus and I spend less time helping with the potion and more time doing our own thing... whatever that ends up being, I don't know yet," she flushed.

Lucy shrugged, "It's okay. I know what it's like to be in a new relationship. I hope things keep going well for you though. You both seem…happier. Friendlier too, in his case. He's certainly stopped glaring at me all the time. Though his version of trying not to glare at me seems to have translated into 'avoid looking at me as much as possible'. He's trying anyway. Like he said he would."

Dinah had to laugh at that. "Actually I find his social ineptness rather amusing. But good to know that he's stopped glaring at you. I'll see you at eleven or so."

Lucy nodded and went off to her rooms to change and send a quick owl to Sirius, letting him know they were coming. She didn't mention anything about the day before.

* * *

At ten minutes to eleven Lucy paced around the entryway. Students milled about, going in and out of the school, sometimes glancing at her as they passed. It was an unusual sight to see her around the school on weekends. Sometimes she wondered if the students just thought she kept to her rooms the whole time or what.

Shrugging, she went out to sit in the sun, on the steps and wait for Dinah.

When Dinah came out they walked far enough to where they were just off Hogwarts grounds and then apparated to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

Sirius met them at the doorway and kissed Lucy hello. It was a nice, long kiss. "Hi," he said and then gave Dinah a short, friendly nod which she returned.

"Hi," Lucy smiled. Maybe it was pathetic but she always felt better when he was around. Peeking around him and looking inside she had to ask, "Where's Harry?"

"Sorry, Harry can't be here for lunch. He had some work to do this afternoon and just left about an hour ago."

"Oh," Dinah said, looking rather disappointed. She sighed, "All right, then let's go eat, I guess..."

"Did you want to eat here? We can walk around Diagon Alley if you want and see what's open."

"Okay," Dinah said, "Let's go to Diagon Alley. I heard Flourish and Blotts recently reopened and maybe they have a book that might be useful."

Sirius laughed, "Do you really think it's a good idea to take Lucy into a book store?"

"I don't know," she frowned. "Is it?"

Lucy smacked him. He could be such a tease. "I, uh, can spend a lot of time in book stores. _But_ that could be helpful since I know Flourish and Blotts pretty well and unless they remodeled I should be able to direct you to the right section."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "You're there enough that all the workers know you and they hold books for you that they think you might like."

Dinah smiled, "That sounds like fun. Let's go."

The threesome walked to Flourish and Blotts, where Lucy led them upstairs to the paranormal section. "Well, I think this might be a good place to start."

"Hogwarts. Hogwarts. Not Hogwarts, but that looks stupid anyway. Oh! Here's one that looks fairly new," she pulled the book out and flipped through it. "Interesting, but I'm not seeing what I'm looking for." She looked at them over the top of the book. "Why don't you two go and look at whatever it is you like? I'm sure you don't need to hang around while I look through these and then if you find a good place for lunch you can let me know and we'll go to eat."

Lucy nodded, thinking that Dinah seemed a bit uncomfortable in Sirius's presence. They walked hand in hand down the street, looking at the shops slowly reopening. "So, Harry had to work, huh?"

"Yep, he did say he'd rather be having lunch with us but duty called."

She smiled, "It always does when you're an Auror."

"How's your weekend been so far?"

"Okay. Dinah and I hung out a bit yesterday. We watched a movie."

"A movie?"

"Yes! It's like a play, but you watch it on a small, box called a telly. Oh! And there's this thing called a remote. It has buttons on it and you can control the movie. It's like a wand for Muggles."

Sirius laughed, "Had a good time then?"

"Yeah, actually I did. What about that place?" she pointed to a small restaurant with a sign that said 'open during construction' in front of it.

Sirius agreed to try it and they went back to tell Dinah. There was a book the other professor wanted to buy and they decided to meet at the restaurant rather than waiting around for her to make her purchase.

"Lu told me you've been doing some sort of survey of Muggle-borns. How's that going?" Sirius asked Dinah.

"Oh, it's going well," she said. "I'm using some Muggle computer programs to analyze the data in an efficient way, but that will take some time. I'm hoping to look for trends, mostly related to how Muggle-born students function at Hogwarts and especially how they continue to interact with both worlds. I'd like some idea of how much of the Muggle world knows about wizarding society through being told by Muggle-borns. That's something I don't think even the Ministry is very clear on."

"Mmm. I know Lily pretty much cut off all contact with her sister but I don't know much more than that."

"Oh. Yes. Lily," she smiled, "I think most people at least maintain contact with their families."

"Probably," Sirius said, "Though I understand from Harry the Dursley's were some pretty nasty Muggles."

She nodded; "It might depend on the personalities of the Muggles involved who gets told and who doesn't. I probably should have inserted that factor into the survey, but I guess it will have to wait for later iterations."

"Perhaps," Lucy said, picking at her food.

"Would you eat?" Sirius said, "You're always bugging me to eat more and most of the time I find you picking at your food."

"Sorry," Lucy said, "I was just…thinking."

"What about?" Dinah asked taking a bite of her roast turkey sandwich.

"Well, I'm wondering why it is that Muggle-born Slytherins seem to be so dejected. I don't know if this helps your survey at all but I've noticed I tend to have far fewer Slytherins in my classes and the ones I do have are generally Muggle-born or half-bloods."

"I think it makes some sense," Dinah said; "They're thrown into a house where most of the other students are distrustful of Muggles and think that wizards and purebloods are superior. Their personality traits may endear them to some of those ideas but the fact that they are what they're supposed to hate confuses them. And I don't think their peers know what to say around them, since they can't talk about pureblood superiority without insulting the Muggle-born Slytherins and their families. It's probably hard to make friends that way. On the other hand, though, I'd think the few Muggle-born Slytherins would join together and try to make their house more tolerant but that doesn't seem to be the case either."

Lucy nodded, "I know. I have Tad and Rita in my third year class. Both Muggle-born Slytherins. They sit on opposite sides of the classroom in each of the back corners. Tad will speak up from time to time but I don't think I've ever heard Rita speak. Of course Septimus doesn't make it easy for anyone to speak. Sacharissa is my only other pure-blood Slytherin in that class. She's not big into participating but I've caught her outside of class picking on Rita. Part of me would like to think Tad _wants_ to help her but he's just too scared to."

"I think Hogwarts could do with having a few more activities that join together people from different houses and encourage communication among children from different backgrounds both within and between houses. I mean it doesn't have to be sappy touchy-feely stuff but I think more can be done than just Quidditch matches where the rivalry is so high. Not that I dislike Quidditch or anything."

Lucy took a few bites of her food before responding, "Yeah. The problem is though the kids that probably need to participate in something like that the most are the ones who would never willingly do it. Right?" she finished, looking at Sirius. She knew that for all his talk about equality he'd been a kid that could have used some bonding time with kids outside his house.

"Um, right. Especially boys. Girls are more likely to want to partake in something like that. Boys think it's too girly or uncool."

"Well, I'm sure there must be a way to spin it that will get them interested. I just haven't figured out what it is yet," Dinah insisted.

"Right," Lucy said, "Hey, while we're at the Ministry why don't we look up some potion books too. It might help you with Eugene."

"That would be nice," Dinah said with a light smile. "I'm sure that would please Severus, too."

"Sniv—ow!"

Lucy grimaced, stomping on Sirius's foot to get him to stop before he finished saying that name, "Dinah and Professor Snape have been doing research together. Helping Eugene with his youthening potion."

"Yes. It's quite enjoyable for all parties."

Sirius shifted in his seat, looking distinctly uncomfortable, "Well, that's…nice. He always did like his research."

Lucy was secretly proud that he'd managed to say something about Snape that couldn't upset Dinah. "Researching is fun. Look at all those books I read for research and think of how they've paid off for you."

"Now, I think maybe we could change the subject before the waitress comes back with the bill." Dinah laughed.

"Hmmm," Lucy mused, "My birthday's in January. Hear that, Sirius?" she teased, "January."

When the bill came they all paid for their food, then apparated to the Ministry.

From the outside, the Ministry was well hidden in Muggle London, but once they made it underground via one of the hidden lifts they emerged in a spacious, well-decorated hall where a few Ministry employees wandered about.

Lucy led them over to the guard who would weigh their wands and hold them until they exited. She hoped he'd recognized her as an Auror and let her keep her wand.

"Wands please?"

"I thought Auror's were allowed to keep their wands?" Lucy questioned. "It's been awhile since I've had to report in."

"Yes, employees are still allowed to carry their wands within the Ministry."

"Well, then…" she raised an eyebrow.

"I still need to check your wand, but it will be returned to you. The others I'm keeping."

"Understandable," Lucy told the man.

Dinah handed her wand to the guard and said low enough for just Lucy to hear. "Are you still considered an employee?"

Lucy shrugged handing her wand over along with Sirius, "I wouldn't think so but if he's not going to question it I'm not going to volunteer the information."

"Well, okay," Dinah said. The guard didn't seem suspicious and handed Lucy back her wand, allowing them to go deeper into the Ministry where Lucy led. "They probably shouldn't have the guard's duties so separate from those of the phone booth lift. If he had asked to see our visitor passes he would have known you weren't an employee."

"No, probably not. In case you were wondering I wouldn't normally do that. I just wondered," she shrugged, "Can't expect miracles overnight after all." She headed to a bank of lifts, "We need to go to level four. That's the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. I'm guessing that would be our best bet but we can go somewhere else if we need to."

"Okay," Dinah agreed, letting Lucy lead them to that area. They wandered around among the stacks and stacks of books, but Dinah seemed to be having a hard time finding what she was looking for. "Is there somebody we can ask?"

Lucy shrugged, "Probably. Unfortunately, I don't know a single soul in this department."

They were finally able to locate a bored-looking book-keeper who directed them to the Spirit Division section, in a different room that was attached to the main one. The sheer number of books in the room looked to be overwhelming to Dinah, but Lucy was practically in heaven. Dinah found one book that she thought might be of interest and then went to ask the book-keeper what was up.

He frowned. "Oh, you want information _about_ ghosts? Most of that is in the Department of Mysteries, but they're still regrouping down there from the chaos two years ago. Much of the information was lost, at any rate. But you can go there if you want – you'd have to have an escort, though. Otherwise it's off limits to visitors."

Lucy looked at her friend and Sirius with a somewhat panicked expression. She had _no _desire to go down there. She didn't want to see the place where events had changed her life. A small part of her thought that going down and confronting that place would be a good idea, but it was a very small part and she squashed it as hard as she could. Dinah didn't look like she had any desire to go down there either so it appeared the decision was made.

"I don't want to go down there," she whispered, squeezing Sirius's hand so hard that he winced.

"Neither do I," Dinah said, and then sighed. "I mean... I've heard it's very creepy and I don't want to make either of you go down there and face it either. Well, maybe we can get somebody to go for us if we ask nicely?"

Lucy nodded, "We could go see if Uncle Arthur's in today."

"The one who is fascinated by Muggles? Ginny's father?" Dinah said, hoping that she was right about that. It would be interesting to meet the man.

"Yep, that's the one. I only have one uncle, by the way. Well, one living uncle that is. There's just one small issue."

"And that is?" Sirius asked.

"His office is on level two with the Auror Headquarters."

Dinah laughed, "And you have your wand. Well, they don't have to know that as long as they don't talk to the guard."

Lucy spread her hands out in front of her, "Let's hope they don't go looking in my pocket." She led them back to the lifts and straight to Arthur's office, walking quickly through the Auror's offices with her head down. She knocked on the door and poked her head in, "Uncle Arthur? Can I come in?"

"Lucy? Of course. Come in, come in," he said waving them in and giving his niece a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, um, Dinah," she said pointing at Dinah, "she's the new Muggle Studies professor, she's doing some research into ghosts and hasn't been able to find what she was looking for so I brought her here to see if she could find something. Sirius came just because."

"Oh, and you just stopped by to visit?"

"Um, no. We actually need something. Apparently the books Dinah is looking for are down in the Department of Mysteries. We can't go down there. Employees only, or so we're told. I mean they let me bring my wand in but I doubt I'd get away with going down there, even if I wanted to, which I don't."

"Your wand? Lucy what did you do?"

"Nothing! Ernie let me keep my wand of his own free will. All I did was ask if Aurors were still allowed to keep their wands with them inside the Ministry."

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Did you tell the guard you were an Auror?"

"No, not exactly. All I did was ask him that question and mention that it'd been awhile since I'd had to report in. Neither one of those things were a lie. It's not my fault he assumed I was an Auror."

"Um, hello, I'm Dinah Samson, new Professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts," Dinah decided that now was as good a time as any to introduce herself to the man. "Lucy tells me you have an interest in Muggles," she added, shaking his hand in a friendly hello.

"Oh, yes! Fascinating creatures. Ginny's written me about your class. Says I'd probably enjoy it myself if I had the chance to take it. Can you tell me what is the function of this and what do Muggles call it?" he held up a ball of netting with a short bit of roped looped so that you could use it to hang the netting on something.

Dinah smiled and took it from him. "It's used in the bath. Soap lathers well on it and then you use it as a scrub for when you wash. They come in all different colors."

"Ah, fascinating, fascinating. Now I believe Lucy was saying you needed me for something. What can I help you with?"

"Well, I'm looking for information on ghosts. Specifically, I wondered if there are different types of ghosts than the ones we usually encounter. Such as ghosts with different behaviors or physical traits. Really, I'm looking for information on anything strange or unexplained or weird that has been noted in regards to ghosts."

"I'll go down and see what I can find. Why don't you three wait here?" He gestured at three chairs they could sit in, one of them being his own chair, and nodded at Sirius as he passed out of the room.

"I hope he can find something," Dinah tried to make conversation, stuck once again in a situation where she couldn't avoid or ignore Sirius.

"I'm sure he will," Lucy said, "He might be a bit scatterbrained at times, but he's head of his department for a reason."

It seemed like they spent hours in an uncomfortable silence before Arthur came back in carrying a book and a stack of papers. "I'm not sure if this is quite what you're looking for," he said, handing the papers to Dinah, "but I brought back anything I thought looked like what you described."

She looked through the papers and glanced at the book before looking up and Arthur and smiling, "These look more promising than anything I've seen yet – especially the book. But I don't think I can stay here all the time and read them... are they things I can borrow?"

"You can borrow them. The articles are copies of the originals. The book just needs to be returned in a month. You can re-check it out of course. Or actually I can re-check it out for you."

"Thank you," Dinah smiled and shook Arthur's hand again. They took a short detour to look for potions books in another part of the Ministry, Dinah found two she thought might be of interest and checked them out along with the book she had found in the Spirit Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Then all three apparated back to the area near Hogwarts.

* * *

Lucy was thrilled. Sirius was spending the rest of the weekend at Hogwarts. Harry had had to leave so there was no point in him staying in London and it was kind of late for Lucy to pack up her stuff and go to Hogsmeade, so he was staying until early Monday morning.

The three of them were walking back towards their rooms, Lucy arm in arm with Sirius. They turned down the final corner to their rooms and there was Severus Snape, walking down the hall in their direction. Lucy tensed with a sinking pit in her stomach that something dreadful was about to occur. When they all noticed each other they came to a complete stop, blocking the hallway from either direction.

They just stood there staring at each other before Dinah suddenly shifted so she was next to Snape staring down Lucy and her boyfriend.

"Professor Ketteridge," Severus said coolly, nodding at Lucy although his sharp gaze never left Sirius's face.

"Professor Snape," Lucy returned, uneasily.

Severus's eyes narrowed. "Black," he almost spat out.

Lucy looked up to see Sirius's face darker than she could remember seeing it. Even when he and the Professor had been forced to interact at Order meetings. "Ssssnape," he drew out the 'S' almost as if he'd been about to say something else but refrained. Probably because Lucy'd been smacking him every time he said Snivellus in her presence.

"Still enjoying your freedom, I see," Severus murmured. "Coming and going from Hogwarts whenever you please... in whichever form you please."

Dinah slipped her arm into his, shocking Lucy. He flinched and looked at her for a short moment before going back to glaring at Sirius.

"Yes, actually I am. I find the ability to choose what form I celebrate my freedom in a rather useful one. Too bad you can't say the same."

"You don't realize that you were freer than I ever was," Severus hissed. "Even including your time spent in Azkaban. And I have no need to celebrate my freedom by turning into a scruffy mutt."

"Severus, don't," Dinah said.

"You," Sirius said, practically sticking his finger in Snape's face, "have no idea what it was like there, or being stuck in that damn house day after day. And I believe Dumbledore asked you to keep your mouth _shut_ about what I am."

"I have no reason to keep such information from the woman I am involved with."

Sirius snorted, "Woman you're involved with? Like you were involved with Lily? Yeah, that worked out well."

"Sirius," Lucy gasped. She was less concerned with Professor Snape than she was Dinah, but either way that remark was not called for.

"Don't you... dare... even... mention..."

Both men seemed to go for their wands at the same time. Dinah grabbed Snape's arm tighter, saying, "Please. Stop. This has to stop."

While Lucy grabbed Sirius hand and stepped between the two men, turning her back on the other couple. _Don't turn your back on your enemy_ was one of the first lessons she'd learned as an Auror, but Professor Snape wasn't her enemy. He was Sirius's. "Don't."

"Lucy. Move," he said, not looking at her.

"No." Training told her she should have taken out her wand and put a quick end to this situation, but instinct told her that that action would have only made things worse. She looked over her shoulder to meet Dinah's eyes.

"We have to split up and go to our separate rooms now before this gets any worse," Dinah said.

"My thought's exactly," she turned back to face Sirius who still wasn't looking at her. Standing there between the two men Lucy knew Sirius wouldn't attempt anything with her in the way. She _hoped_ Snape had enough humanity to do the same. "Please, Sirius, let's go back to my rooms. Leave them be."

Finally he looked down at her, "He started it."

"In case you'd forgotten, I have infinitely more cause to be bitter towards you than you have to be bitter towards me. Just ask your friend Remus," Severus's voice was deathly quiet, and he turned, pulling Dinah with him toward the dungeons.

"What did he mean?" Lucy asked, wondering what Remus had to do with any of this.

"Nothing," Sirius spat, grabbing Lucy's hand and pulling her to her rooms, much like Severus had with Dinah. Apparently the two were more alike than they thought.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Back in her rooms, Lucy sat on the couch glaring at Sirius while he paced back and forth.

"You shouldn't have interfered."

"What was I supposed to do? Let you two blast each other to bits?"

He didn't answer just kept pacing.

"Sirius? Did you mean what you said? About being stuck in the house?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You said he had no idea what it was like for you being stuck in that damn house. It couldn't have been all bad. Could it?"

"Yes, it was. You were there, you should know."

"Yeah," she said quietly, standing and walking to her bedroom door, "I guess I should." She closed the door, barely making a sound, leaving Sirius standing on the other side gaping.

She sat down on the bed and stared at the wall. Really, he could be rather insensitive at times. It didn't take long for him to start knocking at her door though. "Lucy? I'm sorry. Can I come in?"

"It's not locked." She was sure she didn't sound enthusiastic about him joining her but she wasn't up to faking that everything was okay at the moment.

"You're mad."

"Yes."

"I'm sorry."

She turned and looked at him, sitting next to her on the bed, "_Why_ are you sorry?"

"I did something to make you mad."

"So, you have no idea what in the world you could have done to make me mad?"

He shook his head, "Not this time."

"Was it really so horrible being forced to stay at Grimmauld Place all the time?"

"Oh," he said, finally seeming to get what she was referring to, "Well, no it wasn't bad all the time. Just, it would have been nice to go out occasionally. I would have liked to take you out to dinner or something."

"Yes," she nodded, "Going out once in awhile would have been nice, but I had plenty of fun just being with you. I didn't care where we were."

"Please don't take this the wrong way," he said, putting his hand on her back, pulling her close to him, "but you at least had the opportunity to leave the house. If you got bored you could go out the front door and take a walk. I couldn't."

"I understand how that could be frustrating but could you please next time _think_ about what you're saying?"

"One does not need to think when in the presence of that git."

"Actually I think one does but can we at least try to avoid anymore confrontations like that?"

"Mmm," Sirius said, lifting her hair and kissing the back of her neck, "I will if he will."

Lucy turned to look at him, a sly smile on her face, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I _think_ I'm doing the one thing he can't."

"And that is?"

"Get the girl."

Lucy laughed, "Sirius, I think he's got a girl."

"Maybe, but I'm positive he doesn't know what to do with her."

"Oh, well I wouldn't know about that," Lucy said, her thoughts consumed by Sirius and not the other couple.

* * *

Lucy took a deep breath and walked into the great hall. She'd been in Hogsmeade earlier with Sirius but had come back for the Halloween feast. It was important that all the professors attend the feasts. She and Sirius had decided it was best for him not to attend this feast but she'd be going back to Hogsmeade when she was ready to leave.

She milled around a bit, talking to a few of the students and professors. She noticed Dinah and Severus come in together and smiled sheepishly. She seen Dinah a few times since the confrontation last week but she'd yet to see Professor Snape. "Happy Halloween," Dinah said, "Oh, I like your dress robes, they're a nice color."

Lucy blushed and looked down at herself. She'd been unsure about the purple robes. Sirius hadn't seen them yet, she'd ordered them special from Diagon Alley and they fit more closely than she was used to. "Thanks. I wasn't sure about them. You look nice too. You both do." She ducked her head again before looking up at Snape, "I'm sorry about last week. I didn't think…"

She thought that perhaps both Dinah and Severus looked amused at her words. The couple looked at each other for a moment before Professor Snape turned to Lucy, "_You_ did nothing wrong."

"Perhaps not, but if I'd been using my training I'd have known better than to enter the school the way we did," she looked at both of her colleagues for a moment before continuing, "I know you probably don't care about this Professor Snape but _I'd_ appreciate it if neither of you told anyone about…well, the dog thing." She had Sirius had had a small conversation about that yesterday. Lucy was pretty sure Dinah wouldn't say anything but she still felt it needed to be said.

"Oh, I haven't," Dinah said. "I didn't even tell you that I knew. Well, I didn't think Severus should have told me either..."

"I've told no one else," Severus said. "I really don't know why I told her," he gestured to Dinah, "But I did. Anyone else and Dumbledore would have something to say about it if he found out."

"He probably didn't want you to tell me, either," Dinah whispered.

"I don't mind you knowing Dinah, it's a relief actually. That time we had lunch together and he came by…it was hard to remember to speak to him like I would an animal. It's just that if the wrong person finds out he could be in a lot of trouble."

She nodded, "I understand. So, um... he's not here then?"

Lucy snorted, "No. I didn't think that would be such a good idea. He's back in Hogsmeade anxiously awaiting my return. Probably gearing himself up to give me another lecture about stepping in the middle of it last week. Apparently I'm lucky not to have had my head blown off. I disagree, but," she shrugged.

Severus growled and Dinah didn't look too pleased either. "So he was really planning for it to go that far, was he?" she asked, sounding a little cold.

"Oh," Lucy said biting her lip. That had probably been the wrong thing to say, but her nerves were starting to get the better of her and she was beginning to babble. "No. I-I-I doubt it. I think I scared him when I did that more than anything. That and I turned my back on you two. I knew he wouldn't try anything with me standing in front of him though. And I'd _hoped _you wouldn't either, Professor."

"I can't harm Dumbledore's prized dog," Severus sneered. "I was reaching for my wand for incapacitation and defensive purposes only. Come," he pulled Dinah's arm, dragging her away from Lucy. "We're eating."

"All right, all right," she drew back a moment and said to Lucy; "I'm sorry."

Lucy hoped she didn't look a little teary eyed as she said, "I know. I'll see you later." She picked her way over to her side of the table and for once enthusiastically ate her food. She hadn't eaten much that day in anticipation of having to wear her dress robes, plus her eating had the added benefit of making Professor Slughorn reluctant to talk to her. Not that he didn't still talk; it was more that he expected her to respond less.

* * *

Lucy was still feeling down after the feast and rather than taking her broom or aparating to Hogsmeade she decided to walk. It was turning colder out and as she left Hogwarts grounds it began to snow. Part of her wanted to transform into her fox self, but she'd really wanted Sirius to see her all done up for the feast and she couldn't guarantee that she'd stay all nice and neat if she changed.

Professor Snape seemed to think Sirius was no more than an animal. Well, he might be a bit irrational where Severus Snape was concerned but Sirius had never once raised a hand or a wand to her. He _wasn't_ as bad as they thought. That wasn't to say they never fought or he hadn't inadvertently hurt her, they weren't the perfect couple after all, but he always, _always _tried to make her smile. Right now his main concern was making sure Lucy felt safe and secure. In his arms she felt that way. He was _not_ Dumbledore's prized pooch…he was hers.

An hour after she'd left Hogwarts she finally entered Sirius's rooms above the Three Broomsticks. Her hair was dusted with snow and she was freezing.

"Where have you been?" Sirius practically pounced on her when she entered.

She shrugged, "I walked back."

"You walked…Lucy I hate to be one of those over bearing, over protective boyfriends, but what where you thinking?"

She shrugged again, "I didn't have the greatest time and I wanted to think about it okay?"

"You wanted to think? Lucy you can't just go walking in the dark when you want to think! Something could happen to you, you could have been attacked."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, "I think I would have been okay, even if that unlikely event were to occur."

"That's not the point, Lu. You keep putting yourself in these reckless situations lately…"

"He _wasn't_ going to harm me and neither were you. I was doing my job like I was taught. I was listening to my instincts."

"Except that's not your job. You're not an Auror anymore."

"Just because that's not what I do for a living anymore doesn't mean I should act like I never had those experiences. Besides it also happens that my current job requires me to stop two pig-headed children from harming each other and those around them."

"He started it," Sirius said, not for the first time.

Lucy stomped her foot, "That doesn't mean you have to finish it. Or reach for your wand just because he did."

"Oh, so I'm not allowed to defend myself?"

Lucy sighed and sat on the bed. "Apparently you both think you have to defend yourselves from the other. That's more or less what Professor Snape said to me when I talk to him earlier."

"Is that why you had a bad time at the feast?"

"No," she said emphatically, "yes. It's just…he called you a dog."

"I hate to break it to you Luce but that's what I am."

"That's not _all_ of who you are. And it's not so much what he said but how he said it. 'I can't harm Dumbledore's prized dog' as if that was the only thing keeping him from harming you. Actually it probably is, but that's not the point." Her impression of Snape had been a rather good one she thought, looking up at Sirius standing in front of her. "He says dog as if it's a bad thing. Like it makes a difference what animal you turn into. I don't know. Maybe he'd like you better if you turned into a butterfly."

"He'd likely squash me."

"I'm not asking him to be your best friend. I just wish he'd take my feelings into account before he opens his mouth. What he says about you in private, when I'm not around is one thing but to do it right in front of me is another."

Sirius sighed, "Lucy?"

"Hmm."

"Could you do me a favor?"

"What?" she looked up at him again and found him much closer than before. In fact she had to lean back on the bed to look at him comfortably.

"Stop thinking about Snivellus and start thinking about your favorite hound. He's beginning to feel rather neglected."

At this point Lucy was laying flat on the bed. Sirius had his hands on either side of her head and was bracing himself with them. Slowly, he bent his arms and pressed his lips against hers. It was a few minutes before anything besides their lips began to touch. "My hair," Lucy murmured.

"Leave it," he responded, tugging her robes off her shoulder for better access.

"But it…" she didn't get a chance to finish as his lips found hers again.

"I like it," he said, "I'm going to like it more later." They didn't speak again until late the next morning.

* * *

"Come on! Hurry up!" Sirius said, pulling her down the street, the weekend after that Halloween fiasco with Snape.

Lucy laughed and let herself be dragged along. She'd been feeling a little down all week and it was nice to laugh. She hadn't spoken to Dinah since their confrontation and she got the impression they were on the outs for some reason. She'd even spent today's quidditch match sitting with Professor Flitwick rather than with her friend. "You can be such a child at times," she told Sirius laughing, "What could possibly be so important that I have to run?"

"You'll see when we get there. Now, come on!" he said, tugging her arm. He pulled her all the way through the town out to the edges where the buildings were father apart and there were more houses than businesses.

When he reached the last house on the street he didn't stop, just went right in the door. "Sirius, what?" She didn't get to finish her thought as she found, inside the house, two of her formerly dead friends, "Remus, Tonks! What are you doing here?"

"Lucy!" Tonks said, embracing her friend, though it was kind of awkward since Sirius still had hold of her hand. "Welcome home!"

"Welcome…" she let go of her friend and turned to Sirius her eyes wide, "Sirius?"

"It's ours. I bought it two weeks ago," he told her grinning.

"Two weeks ago? And you didn't tell me?"

"It needed some work. I didn't want to tell you until I could show you."

"He's had us up here helping him work on it," Remus told her, standing back from the group. He didn't look well, but Lucy thought the full moon hadn't been that long ago. "We left Teddy with Andromeda," Remus added when Lucy started looking around for her favorite little boy.

Sirius pulled her farther in so they stood in the center of the large, empty front room, "There's three bedrooms, two baths, and the kitchen's right through there. There's no furniture yet, but Tonks insisted that even if you didn't want to spend your weekends fixing up the place you'd like to pick out the furniture yourself."

"We did pick out two beds, but I won't be offended if you want to get different ones. We needed a place to sleep after all," Tonks said.

Lucy put her hands on either side of Sirius's face and pulled him down to her, "I love you."

He grinned, "You said it first this time."

"Hmmm, so I did," she murmured, closing the gap between them for a kiss.

"I think we should leave them alone," Tonks said to her husband, "According to Madam Rosmerta they start that and don't stop."

Lucy pulled away when she heard that, "Oh, we aren't that bad."

Sirius laughed, "Yes, we are."

"Well," she said, looping her arms around his neck, "we've got lots of lost time to make up for."

Sirius groaned, "I hope that's a sturdy bed."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, "You haven't slept in it yet?"

He grinned, "No, I was waiting for you."

Tonks grabbed her cousin, "Come on, let's go get some food before you two make me throw up."

* * *

Remus chuckled as his wife led his best friend out of the house and Lucy turned to look at him. "How are you doing?" she asked him.

He shrugged and began walking slowly towards her, "Oh, I've been worse." They stood in silence for awhile before Remus continued, "Arthur told me Sirius came by the Burrow."

"Yes," she said quietly, "he asked them about…that time."

"Indeed, that is what he said. Do you think it might be time to tell him?"

Lucy sighed, "Remus, do often you go around telling people about your condition?"

"No, but I do tell the people I'm close to, the woman I'm involved with."

"Tonks already knew, you didn't have to tell her. This isn't easy. You should understand that. People look at you differently when they find out what you are. You know they do. I can't have him looking at me differently. I can't."

"I don't think he will."

"Yes, he will," she insisted, "Everyone did."

"No, they didn't. It's normal for you perceive them as doing so, but I'm sure none of us did that."

"Don't tell me I didn't see things right. Maybe you didn't perceive yourself as looking at me different, but you did. Even now, that comment you made, it makes you sound like you think I'm fragile, like I didn't know what was going on after I came out and I did. I may not have been in the best shape, but I know what I saw. I'm not inept at reading people."

"I'm not suggesting that you are. I'm saying that perhaps you feared people were going to perceive you differently and so that's how you saw them seeing you."

"Is that your experience? Do you think_ you're_ only thinking people treat you differently after they learn about you? Because I don't see much difference between the two issues."

Remus sighed, "No, they do treat me differently. You are right about that, but the people who matter don't."

Lucy shook her head and was about to respond when Sirius and Tonks returned from getting food. "Everything okay?" Tonks asked.

"Yeah. Great," Lucy told them.

"Don't mind her," Sirius told their guests, "Lucy's a bit moody since her friend hasn't been talking to her."

"She's not not talking to me. We've both been busy. It's only been a week. I can't be sure she's actually avoiding me yet."

"Need me to go knock some sense into her?" Tonks asked, her hair going from its usual pink to a dark red.

Lucy laughed, "No, really. Dinah's not that bad. Really, there wouldn't even be an issue if her boyfriend didn't loathe mine."

"Dinah's the new Muggle Studies professor," Sirius informed them setting the food on the floor and spreading it out, while they all settled themselves into comfortable positions. "You'll get a kick out of this Remus. She's dating Snivell—"

"Sirius! I really wish you'd quit saying that. You're not sixteen anymore," She turned to look at her friends, "Dinah and Severus Snape are sort of dating."

"Sort of dating?" Tonks asked, "How are they sort of dating?"

"I don't think you can call it dating when they don't do anything. The git's positively paranoid that the students will find out apparently."

Lucy swatted at her boyfriend, "It's not like we did all that much when we first got together either."

"That was different. I was under strict orders not to leave the house. A fact which Dinah's boyfriend took great pleasure in reminding me of as often as he could, by the way."

"Can we not get into that now, please? He did mention something about you though, Remus. Professor Snape that is."

"Oh?" Remus replied, his eyes narrowing.

"Yes. He said he had more reason than Sirius to be bitter and to ask you about it. Well, actually \he told Sirius to ask you about it, but I'm bringing it up."

"I don't know what he's talking about," Remus quickly told her.

"Oh, all right. I just thought that maybe if you knew it would help the situation. I mean I like Dinah and it would be nice to have someone to talk to in the school besides Slughorn, but if the men we're seeing can't even tolerate each other for a few minutes I doubt we'll be seeing much of each other in the future."

Sirius put his arm around her shoulders, "Leave it be, Lu. If Dinah is really your friend she won't let a little thing like me stand in the way."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Yes, Mother."

* * *

Later that evening both couples lay on the sitting room floor, listening to the rain. Sirius and Lucy had spent a lot of time like this when he'd been stuck in Grimmauld Place. The difference was, before they kept a careful distance apart and now Lucy had one of her legs draped over his and they touched from shoulder to hip.

"Let's not get furniture," Lucy suddenly stated.

Sirius looked at her and laughed, "Why not?"

"We used to do this all the time. I liked it. I _missed_ it."

"We can still do this with furniture in the room."

"Yes, please do get furniture. You're guests would appreciate it," Remus added.

Lucy sighed, "Fine, we'll get furniture. It's just too impractical not to."

Sirius laughed again and rolled over to kiss Lucy, "And your rational nature comes forth."

"That's not such a bad thing you know."

Tonks, who had been suspiciously quiet up until that moment, snored.

"I guess that means it's time for bed?" Lucy asked.

* * *

Early the next morning Lucy re-entered her home carrying a cup of coffee, three more floating behind her. She found Tonks sitting the middle of the sitting room, glaring at her and half asleep. "Didn't you sleep well?"

"Your bed squeaks," was all Tonks said.

Lucy giggled, her face flushing, "Oh, sorry."

Tonks shrugged, "So I guess that no sex before marriage thing you always talked about went right out the window, huh?"

She grinned at her friend, "Yeah, like two months ago."

"Two months!" Tonks was wide awake now and grabbed one of the floating coffees, "Has it been that long since we've talked?"

Lucy shook her head, "Not really. We just haven't spoken in person in at least that long and this isn't something you want to put in a letter. It's kind of weird to even be talking about it."

Tonks snorted, "I had no problem telling you about it."

"Yeah, and it was weird," Lucy settled herself down next to Tonks, leaning her head on the other girls shoulder, "I miss you."

"I haven't gone anywhere. You're the one who quit, moved, and got a new job," Tonks teased.

"Oh, hush. You wish you had my job. I think you'd love it."

Tonks shoved her and Lucy made sure to keep the coffee from spilling, "And what would I teach?"

"Transfiguration?" Lucy suggested before the two burst out in laughter. The thought of Tonks teaching any sort of class was rather hilarious. She was good at what she did but she definitely wasn't teacher material.

She really enjoyed having her old friend around, especially now that she and Dinah seemed to be going through an awkward period. The last couple years had been rough for them with everything that had been going on. Lucy was happy that Sirius had thought to ask the other couple up here to fix up the house and that he'd remembered she hadn't wanted to spend her weekends working on a house. It was good to know no matter what she and Tonks were going to remain friends.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Lucy sighed, attempting to put Dora in her travel case. The cat hated the travel case but she was coming to see the new house this weekend whether she liked it or not. Lucy and Sirius were going to look through catalogues and pick out furniture for the sitting room. Remus and Tonks had gone home but she'd really enjoyed spending time with them.

Last weekend was fun, this week, however, had been rather depressing. The weather had been less than stellar, her classes all seemed incredibly quiet, worst of all she was sure now that Dinah was actually avoiding her.

"Dora, come here! It's not that bad. We're going to see Sirius!" she reached under bed, only to have the cat scratch her hand. "Ow! That was _not_ very lady-like Elladora." When she reached for a cloth to wrap around her hand, a knock at her door had her standing. "You, miss, are very lucky someone wants to see me. Otherwise you'd facing the business end of my broom."

Walking towards the door she wrapped the cloth around her hand. Lucy got a shock she wasn't expecting when she opened the door, "Dinah!" Dora was less shocked and took her chance to get away from the dreaded travel case and shot out the door. "Dora! Get back here!" she sighed, "She refuses to get in her carry case."

"Uh...yeah," Dinah said, running a nervous hand through her hair. Dora's escape, however, didn't go as planned. When she got halfway to where Professor Snape was standing she froze, turned, and darted back into the room and under the couch. "Godric seems to like his, but he's easy going in general. Um... hi," she added.

Professor Snape looked oddly satisfied, before turning and walking away from the two women standing awkwardly in Lucy's doorway.

"Hi," Lucy said, stepping back so she didn't block the way, "Um, would you like to come in? I was just packing, but I can put that off for awhile. At least until my hand stops bleeding," she smiled.

"Oh," Dinah laughed. She sounded a little nervous, but then she wasn't feeling anything Lucy wasn't. "Cats. Okay, sure, I'll come in," she walked into the room, wandering over by the couch and looking around for a few moments. After a moment she lowered herself into the couch and started tracing the patterns on the fabric. "How are things in Hogsmeade?"

Lucy grinned, "We have a house. It has no furniture in it other than two beds, but it's all fixed up and painted and everything. And it's ours. He had Remus and Tonks up here for two weeks helping him fix it up so I wouldn't have to on my days off."

"That's nice. Congratulations," Dinah smiled, "Listen, I'm sorry about the past couple of weeks. I've been horribly rude."

She didn't quite know how to respond to that. She'd never really had to deal with something like this. Her only close friend, outside of family, had been Tonks for the longest time. Sure there had been times where Tonks hadn't liked her boyfriends and vise versa but they'd never avoided each other because of it. Besides, Lucy didn't think that was the issue. At least, Dinah had seemed to like Sirius the problem hadn't started until that confrontation between the two men. "That's okay," Lucy said, shrugging, "You've been busy."

"No," Dinah shook her head, "I've been avoiding you. Not because I didn't want to spend time with you. I did. I just... after what happened on Halloween – the things Severus said - I felt a little funny. And I was a little busy at first, with grading and the like. But then I wasn't busy but Severus ended up telling me some things. He told me about how Sirius ... um, made fun of him a lot and mistreated him and I was torn between loyalty to Severus and wanting to maintain our friendship. Then I just kept putting off talking to you, and it sort of ... accumulated. The longer I waited the harder it got to just say something."

"Oh," Lucy said, looking down at her hands, "Yeah, Halloween was…weird. He really wasn't going to do anything, you know. He thought he needed to defend himself and I _know_ I scared him when I jumped in the middle. I know Sirius used to tease…Severus and call him names. Really, I don't let him do that around me, well most of the time. I'll admit there are times when my mind's on other things and I don't correct him. I've told him numerous times that it's not okay and he's not fifteen anymore…"

"Thanks, that helps," Dinah smiled, "It's good to know they're both just trying to be defensive in those situations. I don't think either of them will believe that the other is if we told them, though..."

Laughing, she responded, "Actually, I did tell Sirius that. He ignored it. Of course I then said, and I hope you're not offended by this, but I said that Severus says dog as if that's a bad thing to be and suggested that perhaps if Sirius's animagus was a butterfly the two of them might get on better."

Dinah laughed, "I don't know that dogs are necessarily bad, but I have discovered that I can't change Severus's mind." The mood sobered and she sighed. "But I have to stand by him. So... to get straight to the point I was kind of hoping we could start spending time together again every now and then, but... not really talk about Sirius much? Or, at the very least I hope you don't mind if I kind of try to avoid him. Of course you can do the same with Severus if necessary. I won't talk about my relationship much either."

"I understand and I get you wanting to avoid him, but Dinah…I don't quite know how to explain this. I went through a lot when he…died. I don't think anyone can quite understand. We met and I saw a _life_. I saw a home, a family, little black-haired kids running around calling me Mummy. I saw fun and happiness, things I didn't really have as child. Then I made a decision and I feel like because of that it all got taken away. It was gone. I know that wasn't my fault but that's how it feels. And I was _just _starting to move on, to let that go, when I got a miracle and it all came back. I'm terrified that I'm going to turn around one day and it's going to be 'hahah, got you'. There are going to be times, like the night we watched that movie, when I can't not talk about him. I promise I'll try not to gush and just randomly talk about him, but I need to let him do things without me and I'm not going to always be able to handle that."

"Oh. No, that's perfectly understandable. I'm sorry, that came out wrong. I'm not going to stop you from talking about him. I guess I just mean maybe we could try to treat our friendship as something separate and unrelated to our relationships with men. We can talk about them, though."

Lucy smiled, "I think I can handle that. After all my friendship with Tonks is totally separate from her relationship with Remus…well, sort of. I mean I'm kind of friends with him too, so…" Her gaze was caught by Dora peeking out from behind Dinah's legs, "Dinah? Could you do me a favor and try to grab my friend down there? She'll be in heaven once I get her there I'm sure. It's just the actual transportation that's a problem."

"Oh, sure," Dinah moved a bit and leaned over, waiting for the cat to come into a position where she was able to grab Dora. "Gotcha!" she used her expert animal-catching skills to snag Dora just as the cat took two more steps out from under the couch.

"Thank you! That saves me from spending another hour trying to catch her," Lucy said, taking her cat and placing her in the carry case, securing it shut. "Have you heard when the next Quidditch match is? I know its Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The three of us could go. Although," she said, her forehead wrinkling as she thought, "I suppose I should talk to Sirius about how he feels about that. You understand of course?"

"The three of us?"

"Yes. Me, you, and Severus. I mean we all live and work in the same place so it would be nice if we got along. Of course, I did promise to try and not remind him of Sirius if he tired not to glare at me all the time. I don't know, maybe just my presence does that," she shrugged, "It was just a thought."

"No, that would be nice," Dinah smiled. "I hope you don't think I'm being rude by saying I want to avoid Sirius somewhat. Especially now that you're trying to get along with Severus. That's all I was worried about."

"It's a weird situation I'll admit but we live and work in the same building, we eat at the same table, we're going to have to socialize at some point. Besides, maybe it will sort of ease the way to them at least being in the same room without threatening to blow each others heads off. Not that I plan on pushing it or anything."

"Okay... let's try it," Dinah said, "I'll ask Severus what he thinks and let you know. And maybe we could do lunch again sometime next week or watch another movie at some point."

"Yes! I promise I won't fall asleep on you next time. And hopefully we can watch something romantic or actiony."

"Action, yes, romance only if you're feeling up to it," Dinah said, her smile reassuring.

Lucy grinned, embarrassed, "Right. I used to really enjoy romantic stuff. I actually stopped reading romance novels after…I just couldn't handle the girls getting their happily ever after when I didn't get mine."

Dinah sighed and nodded; "I know how that goes. Romantic stuff made me positively grumpy for a while after I broke up with a serious boyfriend from college. But maybe we're both on the right track now."

"I _really_ hope so. Well," Lucy said, looking around to make sure she had everything, "I don't mean to rush you out but I should get going. He'll worry if I'm too late. It doesn't matter how many times I tell him I'm perfectly safe walking there in the dark and capable of defending myself if need be, he still insists I shouldn't do it."

"Okay, but do be careful. It sounds like it's starting to storm outside."

"Thanks," Lucy said, grabbing up her stuff and walking with Dinah to the door, "I'm going to fly there tonight with the weather being like it is so hopefully it holds off until I'm safe inside."

"Hopefully," they both stepped into the hallway and Lucy closed the door behind them. "Thanks for chatting. I'm sorry it took me so long to come by."

"You're welcome," Lucy said, "I'm glad you came by, even if it took awhile. I was beginning to think I scared you off. Well, I'm sure you have some researching to do so I'll see you Monday I suppose."

"Yes, enjoy your weekend," Dinah smiled and waved as the Lucy headed towards the main entrance.

* * *

Lucy struggled to keep her broom steady as she flew towards her new home. She was glad when she finally landed on the doorstep and rushed inside. "Whew! That storm's getting nasty out there!"

"Lucy!" Sirius came rushing downstairs, "I was about ready to tell you not to come tonight. Something's off about that storm. You shouldn't have been out in it."

"I realized that about half way here," she began taking stuff off her broom and let Dora out of her travel case. "Sorry about the ride Dora, but I told you you'd love it here," she told the cat as she ran over to Sirius and began winding herself around his legs.

Sirius waved his wand at the windows, closing the shutters, "I think it might be a good idea for us to sleep down here. I can drag the mattress down here if you want but it looks like we're in for a rough night."

"The floor is fine," she said, looking out the small window near the top of the door, "You know what this reminds me of? When Voldemort was still in power. This is some sort of Dark Storm I'm sure of it."

"Then we'd best be on our guard," Sirius said, lighting a fire in the fireplace and settling himself down amongst the many pillows they'd thrown on the floor last weekend.

"Sirius?" Lucy joined him on the floor and cuddled up next to him. "How would you feel about me going to the next quidditch match with Dinah and Severus?"

"You want to go watch quidditch with Snivellus?"

"_Please_ don't call him that. Dinah already said she wants to avoid you because of stuff like that. Besides, it's childish. Dinah and I want to spend time together but she's not going to be coming around when you're there and I don't want to alienate either of my fellow professors. I don't have any problems with the man myself, well no problems that any other student of his hasn't had anyway, and I don't want Dinah to think she can only be with one of us at a time. But if you'd rather I avoid him…"

Sirius sighed and laid back, wiggling his toes at Dora, "I don't know Lu. I don't like him. I think that's pretty clear. But Harry has a lot of respect for him and don't think Harry would feel that way without reason. As much as I might like to be, I'm not going to be one of those boyfriends who tells you who you can and can't be around. Just…don't get too friendly with him, okay?"

Lucy snuggled closer to him, listening as the rain started pounding the house, "I think I can manage that. I don't like this storm…it does not bode well."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her half on top of him, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

She lifted her head to look in his eyes, "But what if something happens to you?" she asked, voice trembling.

Sirius smiled at her, "You won't let anything happen to me. And if we go down, we go down together."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "That's not as comforting as you might think."

After awhile they fell asleep among the pillows, in front of the fire. It was a fitful sleep, but they survived the night and spent the rest of the gloomy weekend furnishing their new home.

* * *

"…and I think it's fascinating that he's the only member of his family to have not been sorted into Slytherin. Had he been _I_ would have been his head of house and surly it would have been easier to get him as a member of the Club, you know. I remember he was quite the popular student and did rather well in his classes. He just wasn't terribly interested in applying himself to the work. He could have been great, you know, he could have been great."

Lucy groaned and considered drowning herself in the soup that was being served for dinner Monday evening. "Yes, I'm sure you're right," she told Slughorn, abandoning her soup and finishing up the last of her cabbage rolls. "He does have a habit of jumping from one thing to the next. If you'll excuse me though I think I'll go take a short walk before I have to return to my grading."

The skies were still on the grey side but they were much better then they'd been all weekend. A few students were milling around the grounds, but most were currently in eating dinner. Making her way to a quiet spot on the grounds she'd found during her time as a student, she sat looking out at the lake and thinking.

She was starting to miss her other self. Tonight seemed like the perfect opportunity to get reacquainted with her animalistic side. She could wander about the grounds and even sleep outside if she felt like it. She almost always woke early when she spent the night as a fox so there was no chance of her missing breakfast the next day. The decision made she transformed herself and instantly took to walking along the shore. Every so often she'd dip her paw in the water after a stray fish.

It must have been only an hour or so after dinner had finished and more students were coming out to enjoy the evening before having to return to their common rooms for the night. Not wanting to upset anyone Lucy found herself a nice place among some tall grasses to wait. Slowly she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

She couldn't have been asleep that long when she was woken by a hand pinning her down by the neck. Hissing and trying to scratch the offender didn't work, but she didn't stop trying until someone kicked her hard in the side. After that it was hard to breathe and extremely painful to move much.

"Stop that!" a girls voice screamed. Lucy thanked whoever was watching over her for sending that girl this way. "Septimus Peaks! You low-life little Death Eater! Leave that animal alone!"

The person pinning her down, who she now knew was Septimus, didn't ease his hand as the girl drew closer. "Jania! Get out of here you filthy little Mudblood! Leave us be. We're going to take care of this mongrel so it doesn't have the chance to harm any of the students. Didn't you hear it hissing at us before Sean kicked it a good one?"

"It was hissing at you because it was trying to get away! If you let it go I'm sure the poor thing will just run off into the woods."

"Oh no, we're not letting it go now. It's obviously a dangerous creature and needs to be gotten rid of."

Jania screeched, "That's it! I'm getting a teacher!" and with that she rushed off as fast as she could run.

Lucy could only hope the girl would bring help before the boys did irreversible damage to her. Her hope fell when one of the boys smashed a rock into her head.

She was sure she must have passed out because it was noticeably darker the next time she opened her eyes and Jania was back, yelling, "There they are!" to a teacher, hopefully it was Dumbledore. He at least was aware of what her animagus was and might recognize her.

"Septimus Peaks!" the voice shouted, and Lucy recognized it. Dinah. She knew the other professor would, if nothing else, be concerned with the way the boys were treating another creature.

Hearing her friends voice Lucy began to struggle more in Septimus's grip. Her head was aching and the pain in her side was nearly enough to make her wish they'd finished the job they'd started, but she knew she had to get out of here before Dinah got too good of a look at her. Her fur, she knew, was just a tad too bright and long to be natural. The boys obviously couldn't tell, but she'd bet anything Dinah would notice.

She heard Dinah take a couple steps closer before Septimus let go of Lucy's neck and she took off as fast as she could manage, heading into the woods and hiding. From her hiding spot she was able to watch the confrontation between the boys and the professor, Jania sticking close to the other woman.

"That's your name, isn't it?" Dinah demanded. "From Professor Ketteridge's class? Would you mind telling me exactly what it is you think you were doing to a poor defenseless animal?" Lucy didn't think she'd ever heard Dinah so angry, or seen her face so red when she wasn't blushing over Severus.

"Y-yes, ma'am. We were just…trying to get rid of it. It was vicious. It might have bitten a first year if we didn't do something. It kept hissing and biting at us."

Lucy tried to slow her breathing so the pain in her side was more tolerable. She was no healer but she wondered if perhaps they'd cracked a rib when they'd kicked her.

"That's not true!" Jania yelled, "Well, it is, but the fox was only reacting that way because _you_ had it trapped and were torturing the poor thing!"

"All right," Dinah demanded, staring down the two boys. "What happened first? Did it hiss or bite at you or did you do something to it before any of that happened?"

Lucy wondered if Septimus would opt for the truth. He tended to be a right nasty little git in class but if she pressed him she could get a truthful answer out of him. Sean she was unfamiliar with but she didn't imagine him to be the more dominant of the two boys.

Sean looked down at the ground and toed the place where Lucy had been laying. "Well, Miss…"

Lucy watched Septimus smack his friend on the arm, "Shut up!"

"We do not hit our friends, Mr. Peaks," Dinah growled. "Keep in mind that how you two respond to this inquisition is going to have a direct effect on how many points I choose to take from Slytherin. So choose your words and actions wisely." She turned to Sean. "What is your name?"

"Sean Cuffe, ma'am. Septimus is the one that grabbed it. I don't know what it was doing before that. I didn't see the animal, he did," Sean said jerking a thumb at his disgruntled friend, "He grabbed it and I kicked it to keep the thing from biting Septimus. He's the one who grabbed a rock and bashed it in the head!"

Jania looked extremely worried at this point. "I saw them but I didn't know what they were doing at first otherwise I would have tried to stop them earlier." She turned tearful eyes towards the two boys, "You might have just gone and killed a defenseless creature who didn't do _anything_ to you! Does that make you feel all big and important now?"

Dinah watched Jania with an odd look of understanding in her eyes. The other professor sighed and turned to the boys. "Is this true, Mr. Peaks? Did you bash it on the head with a rock? And what was it doing when you found it? I expect the truth."

Lucy actually heard the boy growl. She could almost see him weighing the consequences of him being caught lying about this. She was sure a fair number of the faculty would _not_ be pleased with this event.

Septimus shrugged, "I don't know. It might have been sleeping. Certainly never knew we were coming anyway. And if I hadn't hit it with the rock it _would_ have bitten me. The thing could have been rabid for all I knew. I didn't want to get rabies."

"I see," Dinah said, her mouth set in a hard line. "And do you think it would have had cause to bite you in the first place if you had not _grabbed_ it while sleeping?"

She was starting to have a hard time concentrating on the argument but there was no way she could get back to her rooms at the moment. Hogsmeade was too far and she just wanted to curl up in her bed…maybe she should have drowned herself in the soup earlier. It had to be a less painful experience than the one she was currently having.

The Slytherin boy shrugged again, looking rather cocky, "Maybe if it was rabid. You'll never find it now and prove that it wasn't. I was just defending myself and my friend here."

"Fifty points from Slytherin," Dinah said, causing the boys to groan. "For your attitude, Mr. Peaks, and your awful behavior. Consider yourselves lucky. I was going to take fifty points from each of you but it's clear that Mr. Cuffe was simply following your lead. I hate to tell the both of you this but there are plenty of red fox roaming around the area and many will come close to the school. There is no danger involved and if a rabid animal is found it is Rubeus Hagrid's job to deal with it, not the students'. If I ever hear that you attack or provoke an innocent animal again or if I hear that you have done so on any other occasion the consequences shall be severe. Now, go back inside the castle."

Lucy watched, thankful, as the boys slunk back inside the castle. Jania and Dinah waited a bit, the professor comforting the student.

"Thank you for getting me, Miss Whitehorn," Dinah said, putting a hand on the still-upset Jania's shoulder. "We should go back inside now, too."

"What about the poor fox?" the girl asked.

Dinah shook her head. "The fox ran off. If it was strong enough to run then it should be all right. Animals are good at taking care of their injuries. And we shouldn't try to hunt it down when it's in distress. No, I think we made it in time, thanks to you," she smiled at the student.

Jania smiled, looking like she felt a little better, and then the two of them followed the boys inside.

It was good to have guardian angels, even if they were unaware of what they'd done.

She was going to have to wait until later in the night to slink back into the castle herself though. She couldn't risk running into anyone looking the way she probably would once she'd transformed back into her human self.

It must have been nearly one in the morning before Lucy felt safe enough to transform and gingerly make her way to her bed. It was not going to be fun teaching through the next couple days like this, but she couldn't think of a single plausible excuse to tell Madam Pomfrey.

Dora watched her as she took off her robes and gently settled herself in bed. The intuitive cat curled up in a chair near the bed rather than joining Lucy as was her habit. Lucy couldn't help but be grateful that her cat knew better than to touch her right now.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The next morning Lucy didn't even crack an eyelid before she waved her wand at the window and darkened the room as best she could. Light was not her friend. She wasn't sure if she'd fallen asleep the night before or just passed out, but it didn't matter. There was no way she was moving from her position unless she wanted her head to explode and her ribs to collapse. Neither scenario sounded appealing and Lucy willed herself back to sleep.

When she opened her eyes later that day it was dark out and her room reeked. Feeling a little woozy she saw that she must at least have been aware enough to summon a waste basket to the side of her bed before being sick in it.

Someone pounded on her door, or at least it sounded like it. She wanted to tell them to go away but her rational side came out and said if it was dark she'd missed all her classes and meals, someone had been bound to notice and come looking for her eventually. "Come in," she croaked, louder than she'd have liked but whispering wouldn't do any good since the person knocking probably wouldn't hear her and would only knock again.

She heard the door open and someone step inside, "Lucy? It's Dinah. Are you here?"

Dinah. Great. Now how was she supposed to explain injuries remarkably similar to the ones two Slytherin boys gave a fox just yesterday? "In bed," was all she managed to say before being sick again, groaning at the pain the movement caused.

"Should I get Madam Pomfrey?" Dinah asked, when Lucy looked up at her. She had to look rather pathetic. Her hair was probably a mess, she hadn't eaten all day and she'd thrown up a number of times.

"Oh, God no," she couldn't imagine anything worse. Her brain certainly wasn't working well enough to come up with an excuse that would appease the Hogwarts Healer. She gently laid herself back in the bed, "I'm not sick. I just…hit my head really hard is all."

"And you're throwing up because of that?" Dinah frowned, concerned. "You could have a concussion. What happened?"

Lucy closed her eyes and thought. She didn't want to lie to Dinah, but telling her the truth wasn't an option. "Um, I'm not sure. I think I tripped and hit my head last night. My memory's a bit fuzzy."

"Then you _have_ to talk to Madam Pomfrey!" Dinah insisted. "This could be serious. Oh, and that reminds me, does Sirius know? Have you told him?"

"Shhh. I have a slight headache," she felt one corner of her mouth lift in a semi-smile, "Dinah, I've slept all day. You're the only person I've seen. So no, he doesn't know."

"Well... tell him," Dinah said, "or tell Madam Pomfrey. If you desperately need me to_ I_ could even send an owl to Sirius. But do something. I'm not cut out to take care of this and I have no idea what to do to check if it's serious or not. But a concussion isn't something that you can just ignore and hope that it goes away."

"Yes, Mother. I will tell Sirius. I promise" Lucy opened her eyes to see Dinah had crossed her arms over her chest, looking very much like a stern mother. "Really. I've got nothing against Madam Pomfrey. There just no way I could explain this to her."

"Well, you seem to be feeling good enough to be sarcastic, anyway. I don't know why you need to explain it to Madam Pomfrey. If you can't remember, you can't remember. But I guess it's Sirius's job to either force you to talk to her or not. Either way, there's still the matter of your classes. What are you going to do? The students were muttering in the halls that you didn't show up."

Lucy took a deep breath, wincing at the pain that caused, "I'll be there tomorrow. You're right, I am feeling slightly better. My head is still pounding but I don't feel like throwing up now. I won't be at my best I'm sure, but I'll be there. Thanks for coming to check on me. I don't mean to seem ungrateful."

"That's all right. Do you need anything?" Dinah asked, looking more relaxed, and yet she still looked worried too. Had she guessed it was Lucy she'd rescued yesterday? No, that would be nearly impossible.

"Um, I'm kind of hungry but I'm not sure I should be eating much right now. Thanks though. This isn't the first time I've gotten myself all beat up like this. Comes with the job description. And in case you were wondering Sirius is pretty good at healing."

"Okay," Dinah said. "Well, take care of yourself, then. I hope to see you at breakfast tomorrow. If I were you I'd have Sirius come here tonight rather than waiting for tomorrow. You shouldn't be alone."

"I've got Dora," Lucy grinned, "Um, before I forget I talked to Sirius about the quidditch thing."

"Oh," Dinah smiled. "Is he all right with it?"

"Yes. I mean he's not thrilled and he'd prefer that I not get too friendly with Severus but he says he won't be one of those boyfriends who tells me who I can and can't hang around."

Dinah nodded, "That's nice. For what it's worth Severus has never explicitly ordered me to stay away from Sirius, either. It's just... different in this case. I can't tell you why, but since Sirius is the one who was always cruel to Severus in the beginning..." she trailed off.

"I never actually thought he did. Tell you to stay away from Sirius that is. I trust you have your reasons for your decision. Personally I don't think either one of them were entirely innocent, but that's neither here nor there at the moment. I'm sorry, I've been terribly rude. Do you want to sit? There's a chair right over there," she pointed to where Dora had been laying the last time she'd seen her.

"Thanks. But, well, I did have a lot of grading to do..." she admitted. "I mean, if you really need the company I can bring it here. I still think you should have Sirius come over tonight, though."

"I'll be okay. Go ahead and do you're grading; snuggle with your boyfriend, whatever. If I need him I promise to call for Sirius."

"All right," she smiled a little, "I'll mention Quidditch to Severus and we'll plan to go together Friday after next. We can sit in one of the Ravenclaw sections."

"Okay. We can sit wherever, but Ravenclaw will be nice. Thanks again for checking on me. I'll see you at breakfast."

Dinah smiled and nodded; "Get some rest. Hope you feel better."

"I will," Lucy waved at her friend as she closed the door behind her.

* * *

Lucy did not want to get out of bed the next morning but she'd promised Dinah she'd be at breakfast. She was worried if she didn't show up Dinah would drag half the faculty down to her room to tend to her. She kept to the wall to try and keep from accidentally being bumped into by students and further injuring herself.

The noise in the Great Hall didn't help her headache. She imagined the day wouldn't get any easier but she could make it through. She noticed Dinah watching her and Snape staring at her as she made it up to the table and took her seat. She hadn't sent for Sirius as Dinah had wanted her to. She felt guilty about that, but really she'd been fine for the night. He was coming for dinner this week anyway so it wasn't as if she couldn't hold herself together for that long.

She made it through her classes without too much of a problem but by the time she let her final class out, Lucy just wanted to go to bed. Well, Dinah wasn't expecting her to be at dinner anyway, so she wouldn't have to make an appearance there. The only thing she had left to do was deal with Sirius.

He came into the room to find her lying on the couch, her eyes closed. "Lucy!" Sirius said when he saw her.

"Shh. I have a massive headache and the kids today didn't help. That wasn't their fault though." She opened her eyes and watched him walk over to her. Lucy held out her hand and he helped her sit up.

"What happened?"

"I think I cracked a rib or two. Ow," she said when Sirius put his hand into her hair, "watch my head."

"Yeah, you've got a nice knot back here. Again, what happened?" he asked, gently feeling the back of her head.

Lucy sighed, "I got caught in my fox form and clearly wasn't treated well. Don't worry I'll take care of it just as soon as I heal."

"How long ago did this happen?" he asked, lifting the hair off her neck, "You've got a nice bruise back here that looks a couple days old."

"Monday evening."

"And you didn't write me? You should have. I would have been here."

Lucy rolled her eyes. He was beginning to sound like Dinah, "Sirius, honestly there wasn't much you could do. I came back here, dropped into bed, and slept until Tuesday evening when Dinah came to check on me. She, by the way, also thinks I should have written you right away or gone to see Madam Pomfrey."

"You probably should. I don't know if I can heal something quite like this. What did you tell Dinah?"

"Just that I couldn't remember what happened. I couldn't exactly say 'I'm an unregistered animagus and while I was transformed a couple of idiots caught me and knocked me around' now could I?"

"No, but she could have helped you to the hospital wing."

"I was in no condition to be walking anywhere. I'd barely stopped throwing up."

"Throwing up? Lucy that sounds like you have a concussion. You _really_ should have sent for me or gone to Madam Pomfrey."

"I haven't had the time and I can't seem to find the will to trudge all the way to the hospital wing. Besides how would I explain my injuries to Poppy?"

"The same way you explained them to Dinah," he said, standing and lifting Lucy into his arms.

"Where are you taking me?" Lucy asked, slightly alarmed.

"We are going to see Madam Pomfrey and since you apparently have no will to go there yourself I'm carrying you."

* * *

"You should have come here sooner," Madam Pomfrey clucked her tongue, "I could have healed you right up and you wouldn't have had to suffer for two days."

"Told you," Sirius grinned.

"Shut up."

"Are you keeping her, Poppy?" Sirius asked the Hogwarts healer, ignoring Lucy.

"Just overnight. I'll want to keep an eye on her."

"Mind if I stay?"

"You can stay. In _that_ bed!" Madam Pomfrey pointed to a bed next to the one Lucy lay in. The healer stared for a moment before sighing, "If you must you can push the beds together but Miss Ketteridge needs her rest Black and I expect you to let her get it."

"No worries, Madam Pomfrey. Sirius takes good care of me. Even if I don't want it. For instance I would have been perfectly happy suffering for another week or so. He insisted I come here."

"As he should have. Honestly, not remembering exactly _how_ you got injured is no reason to be embarrassed and not get help."

At one point during the night Sirius woke to find Madam Pomfrey checking on Lucy. She'd curled up into his side at some point during the night. It wasn't unusual but it meant that she was now lying on her injured side.

"How's she doing?" he whispered.

"Very well," Madam Pomfrey looked pleased, "I won't be sure about the injury to her head until morning but that may take longer to heal in any case. Now, go back to sleep," she said, leaving them alone once more.

She'd refused to tell him who her attacker was, said it'd been taken care of. Maybe it had, but he wished she would let him do something about it. Didn't she know she could have been killed? Her animagus was small and could easily be injured beyond repair. She'd been lucky her attackers had loosened their grip enough for her to dart away. Even then he was afraid he'd been a lot closer to losing her than either one of them knew. It was a worrying experience and gave him only the slightest idea of what she'd felt when he'd died.

He had to keep reminding himself that she was capable of defending herself. She didn't need him to protect her all the time. But he wanted to and it would do his ego good if she'd let him do that once in awhile. It disturbed him that the things she really needed him to protect her from were internal things, things he couldn't see and couldn't do much about. In that respect he was determined to stick around and somehow prove to her that he was always going to be around. He wasn't going anywhere, not without her.

* * *

Lucy felt so much better Thursday that she _almost_ was willing to admit she should have gone to Madam Pomfrey when Dinah had insisted she should. At least she felt better until her third years, Septimus included, walked into class.

She really shouldn't be intimidated by the boy. He was only thirteen and her training would allow her to beat him at most anything he could throw at her, but her experience Monday had shaken her and she'd prefer not to have anything to do with him.

For the most part she was able to conduct the class in a smooth manner. Every time Septimus had some sort of outburst she jumped and the students would stare at her looking worried.

"That is ridiculous! The whole book is stupid! No wizard in his right mind would _want_ to learn to live among Muggles, let alone try to integrate with them!" Septimus yelled after Tad had reluctantly offered his opinion.

Lucy sighed. She really should give him detention but she didn't want to spend anymore time with him than she had to. Maybe she could talk to Dinah or Snape or even Minerva about sitting detention with him. "Mr. Peaks," she said calmly, "We do not speak to our fellow students like that. You _are_ entitled to your opinion but you do not have the right to belittle the ideas of others."

She had a difficult time controlling her face when Septimus scowled and Tad stuck his tongue out at his fellow Slytherin. She really should say something to Tad but she just couldn't do it this time. It was the first time she'd seen him show anything close to self-confidence.

"On that note I think I'll let you all go for today. I'd like you all to consider that this novel is the author's _opinion_ on a particular subject. Whether the story being told is a true one or not is irrelevant. We can and have shared our ideas on how we feel about this piece. What we have not been doing is judging this piece in terms of being good or bad. I'd like you all to write a 16 inch essay about that, due next Thursday." As the students gathered their things and left she called, "Miss Whitehorn, may I see you for a moment?"

"Did I do something?" Jania asked, coming to stand in front of Lucy.

"No, I just wanted to talk to you," she smiled, trying to reassure the girl, "I heard about what you did Monday evening. I wanted to say that was very courageous of you. I'm proud you thought to try and protect those weaker than yourself."

Jania sniffed and looked at the ground, "I'm afraid I didn't act soon enough. I think the poor fox might have died. Septimus hit it really hard."

"It ran away didn't it?"

"Yes. Professor Samson said if it ran away it was probably strong enough to make it, but I don't know…"

Lucy smiled, "I think Professor Samson would know. She has a number of pets so it would seem she knows animals well. The fox probably just ran off to its burrow so it could hide and heal. Animals do that when they're injured. Don't beat yourself up about not getting there in time. I find it incredible you were brave enough to intervene at all, and I'm sure the fox is grateful. I think I'd like to give ten points to Hufflepuff…for courage."

The girl looked up, her eyes wide, "Really? I've not earned points for the house yet!"

"Well you have now. I like to reward good behavior when I can. You'd best be heading off to lunch now. Keep up the good work Miss Whitehorn."

"Oh, I will! Thanks, Professor!" The young Hufflepuff said, waving as she bounced out the door.

She liked that girl. She was so happy most of the time and unafraid to stand up for herself and others. Jania was loyal, a true Hufflepuff. Perhaps that was Lucy's 'second house'. The one that she would have ended up in if she hadn't gone to Ravenclaw. That would explain the affinity she had with a number of people from that particular house.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Lucy smiled at herself in the mirror. The incident with Septimus and Sean had shaken her and though things had been relatively good since then, she'd been feeling repressed. This was a chance for her to have fun and enjoy herself like she used too. It had been so much fun going to a quidditch match with Tonks, especially when Ravenclaw would play Hufflepuff.

She wrapped her Ravenclaw scarf around her neck and pulled on her house gloves. In fact she was all decked out in her house colors. If she hadn't left her old school robes in London she might have even pulled those on too. If they still fit. Lucy wasn't the greatest athlete in the world but she loved watching the sports.

Patting Dora on the head she left her rooms, shutting the door behind her, and headed down to the dungeons where she'd promised to meet Dinah and Severus. She stood outside the closed door to Severus's rooms and raised her hand to knock.

_I killed Sirius Black._

Before her hand hit the door she spun around, looking for the source of that voice. It hadn't been in her head. She'd heard it come from behind her and it was a voice she shouldn't have been able to hear. It was the voice of a dead woman. The voice of Bellatrix Lestrange.

There was no one there. Was she going crazy? No. No, that wasn't happening. She wouldn't go back there. She'd heard the voice. She knew she had. Lucy took two steps away from where she was supposed to be before she stopped herself. She couldn't just leave her friend to chase after a dead voice. No. She wouldn't do that. She was going to turn around and knock on that door. Only she couldn't turn around. She was forcing herself not to go looking for something that wasn't there, but she couldn't make herself turn around and pretend it hadn't happened.

She stood for a minute staring at the place where someone should have been. But no one was there and she concentrated on breathing, calming herself. When she could breathe steadily and her heart had resumed its normal pace, Lucy found she could once again turn around, approach the door, and knock.

Snape pulled open the door with a curt, "Hello."

"You could at least _smile_, you know," Dinah chided him, causing him to roll his eyes as she turned her own smile to Lucy standing on the other side. "Hi. Ready to go?"

"Um, yeah," Lucy said gesturing behind her, "You didn't hear anyone else out here did you? Like someone that shouldn't be here?"

"No," Dinah frowned and exchanged a glance with Severus. "What do you mean?"

"I," Lucy shook her head, "I thought I heard Bella. I must have had a dream about her last night that I don't remember or something. Don't worry about it. It's just me I'm sure. It just…sounded very real this time."

"Bella?" Dinah asked.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Severus growled, staring at Lucy. "Forget what I said about Hogwarts being peaceful," he was saying. "Have you heard this before?"

Lucy shook her head emphatically, "No. Not like that at least. I mean I've had dreams…about her," she sighed, "but nothing like this. This sounded very real and very present. I swear it came from over there," she pointed to a spot further down the hall, the opposite direction from which she'd come.

Dinah bit her lip and sighed.

"What?" Severus asked her, touching her arm and gazing at her with some concern.

"Nothing. I'll tell you later. It's probably irrelevant, anyway." She turned to Lucy. "Hopefully it was just your imagination. But if anything else weird happens let us know. We've... noticed some other odd happenings around Hogwarts lately. Nothing major, but it might be relevant."

"Okay," Lucy nodded, "You ready to go then?" she asked, trying to shake off the feeling that it _hadn't_ been her imagination.

"Sure, let's go." The three of them headed silently through the halls toward the main entrance. When they finally stepped outside Dinah seemed surprised to see that the weather had gotten dark and windy. She frowned. "It wasn't like this outside this morning. Perhaps we should have brought thicker robes."

"A Dark Storm," Lucy muttered. The last time it had stormed like this Sirius had nearly had a heart attack over her traveling in it. She'd told him she wouldn't do such a foolish thing again and no desire to either. "Looks like I'm stuck here. For tonight at least."

"It's probably better to be safe than sorry," Dinah agreed, and then smiled. "Maybe we can watch another film. Want to?"

Lucy grinned. She'd thought about asking Dinah to at least check up on her, but she was glad her friend had made the offer to hang out instead, "Sure, yeah, that sounds nice. Thanks for asking. I mean, unless you had other plans," she added, glancing at Severus.

"No, please watch your ridiculous Muggle film and leave me well out of it." Severus said. "We should head to the Quidditch pitch. The game is about to start," he finished.

Lucy noticed Dinah's slight look of disappointment before a wind gust nearly knocked her over. "Whoa! It's a good thing it's not raining. An umbrella'd be long gone by now and I'd have had to dig out my Ravenclaw rain gear."

Dinah laughed as the three of them began hurrying toward the pitch. She pulled her robe's hood over her head and gestured at Lucy. "I notice you donned all of your Ravenclaw getup for the game. You must have a strong house loyalty."

"Yeah," Lucy said, speaking a little louder than normal to be heard over the storm, "That and Tonks and I have always had a bit of a friendly rivalry going on when it comes to the Ravenclaw Hufflepuff game." She led the party inside one of the Ravenclaw towers, getting them out of the storm for a few moments. "Phew," she said shaking the snow out of her hair, "We'll get a few moments respite from the wind anyway. I hope hot cocoa's on the menu tonight."

"That sounds good," Dinah said, drawing her robe more closely around her.

Severus, on the other hand, frowned. "Why is it that you're fine with her house loyalty but are always getting angry about mine?"

She shot him a smile. "House loyalty and bias are two different things, Severus."

Lucy grinned impishly, "And I'm not biased. Why just the other day I _gave_ Slytherin points. Of course I was also sorely tempted to take them and more away due to another student's attitude."

"Hm," Severus made his noncommittal noise. "Even if you did, it's likely you won't be able to make a dent in the fifty points Dinah insisted on taking a couple of weeks ago."

"For good reason," Dinah glared at him.

"I didn't say it wasn't," he admitted with a sigh. "Still, fifty is a lot of points..."

"Yes, well," Lucy said climbing the stairs, "what would you have had her do? Torturing anything it not an act to be tolerated and only taking ten or fifteen points wasn't going to get that point across."

"I suppose it can't be helped," Severus admitted grudgingly.

"I see you heard about the incident," Dinah said. "You have Septimus and Jania in your class, I know." They emerged into the light just as the players were flying onto the pitch with the announcement of their names.

"Yep. I gave Jania and Hufflepuff ten points for bravery," she looked around the pitch, "I'm surprised they didn't cancel the match today with the way this storm's blowing about. It's not going to ease up anytime soon."

"They didn't cancel the last match, they won't cancel this one," Severus said.

"Oh, cocoa!" Dinah summoned a cup over from the place where many were brewing and wrapped her hands around it. "This isn't so bad."

"The storm wasn't this bad during the last match. It got worse later," Lucy insisted, summing her own cup of cocoa, "This storm isn't natural." She shuffled along, finding the three of them seats.

"You noticed it, too," Dinah said, sighing and staring down at where little swirls of steam floated up from her cup after they had sat down, she in-between Lucy and Severus. "I don't know, it seemed pretty peaceful this past week. I hope this doesn't last."

"Me too," Lucy murmured. "Oh, look!" she said pointing out on to the pitch, "There's Nia! She's in one of my classes, talks about quidditch all the time. Oh, this brings back a lot of fun memories. I once tried out for the team you know," she said, taking a sip of the cocoa.

"Really?" Dinah asked, smiling. "That's nice. I never tried out myself. Maybe I would have wanted to, given different circumstances, but..." she shrugged and took a sip of her own cocoa. "You didn't make the team? Or did you?"

Lucy shook her head, "No. I wasn't good enough. It's just as well I suppose. Gave me more time to study and I think it's probably more fun to be a spectator than a player. Less pressure."

"I've always thought so," Severus said, joining in the conversation as he watched the players move back and forth. "Miss Rackam does seem to have talent. She should be worthy competition in the Ravenclaw-Slytherin game."

"I didn't realize you were a fan of the sport, Professor. Does it extend to professional teams as well, or is it just the Slytherins?" Lucy said, grinning and hoping that her comment hadn't come off as an insult.

"My focus lies on my own house," he said; "But I do appreciate the game and follow the professional teams to a certain extent. And you?" he turned to her with his classic smirk. He looked her up and down. "You do seem to have a monopoly on the Ravenclaw memorabilia today."

"It's all original. My house robes are stuck in London, which is one of the reasons I'm not wearing them. Personally, I tend to vacillate between the Kenmare Kestrels and Puddlemere United. I haven't been paying too much attention the last couple years with everything that's been going on, but I'm hoping we get the World Cup again. If we do I'm going to try and get tickets. I think…well never mind." She had been going to say that she thought Sirius would enjoy it, but changed her mind, remembering what she and Dinah had agreed upon.

"Hmm," there was a pause, Severus frowning. After a moment of awkward silence he spoke again. "Yes, I suppose that is something the... two of you would probably enjoy."

Dinah smiled and hugged herself, "It sounds like you'll have fun."

Lucy jumped up, cheering when Ravenclaw scored. When she returned to her seat she looked at Dinah, responding, "I hope so. Things have been good lately but I think it'll be nice to go out and have fun. It's probably a long shot though after what happened the last time we hosted the World Cup."

"I don't know if they can hold that against us, though," Dinah said, shivering as a gust of wind blew past them and scooting closer to Severus.

"They shouldn't, but when politics, tourism, and money get involved things get a bit complicated," she set her cocoa on the floor so she could adjust her scarf so it covered her ears, "So, what other sorts of things do you enjoy, P—Severus?"

"Hm," he responded, glancing at Lucy for a quick moment with his eyebrow raised, apparently surprised at her use of his first name. He didn't seem bothered by it though, as he turned back and watched Hufflepuff's seeker narrowly miss the snitch. "I enjoy what you would expect. Research. Mainly potions and the Dark Arts."

"Clearly not Muggle films," Dinah teased, scooting closer yet again.

Lucy laughed, "I enjoy doing research myself. For instance did you know that both Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard were Muggle-borns and cousins? Anne was openly accused of being a witch but I've only read a couple fictions that posited that Katherine might have been as well. We can be sure Anne didn't attend Hogwarts since it's well documented she was in France most of her young life but I think she would have been in Slytherin. She was very ambitious."

"You seem at least to know your subject. I confess it would be interesting if there was a way to prove that theory of yours," Severus said, and then turned to Dinah. "Are you trying to tell me that you're cold?"

She flushed; "Er, actually I wasn't trying to tell you anything, but I am cold. It's not so cold next to you, though."

"Here," he removed his scarf and wrapped it around her neck. "You didn't bring a scarf. Sometimes you don't think at all, do you?"

She smiled, "I guess I'm an idiot."

"Please keep in mind that those were your words and not mine."

"What about you?"

"Unlike you, I wear more layers."

Lucy sighed, watching the two of them. If Sirius were here she'd probably have done something similar, even if she hadn't been cold. However, instead of just giving her his scarf he would have put his arm around her and kissed her a time or two. His kisses warmed her up quite nice. "I am going to need a nice warm bath and plenty of blankets when we get back in," she'd rather have a nice warm hound though, "Of course with all this snow I don't think anything could keep me warm."

"A bath and blankets sounds lovely," Dinah agreed. "Oh! Look, Ravenclaw is approaching the snitch!"

"Yes!" Lucy screeched, jumping up and spilling her cocoa when the seeker caught the snitch and Ravenclaw won the game. She probably looked ridiculous joining in the students cheers like she was but she didn't care. She blushed when she sat back down and noticed Dinah quietly laughing at her. "Sorry."

"No, don't be," Dinah smiled. "It was very entertaining. Shall we go back now? We can pick a movie and Severus can get to his grading."

"Sure," Lucy smiled, "Are you sure you don't want to join us though? I'm sure Dinah could pick out a manly film if that's your concern."

"I have grading to do," he replied as they walked out of the stands amongst the shuffle of chattering students. "And it is not the content of the film that I dislike, it is the film itself. The utter concept of Muggle technology being used at Hogwarts is appalling."

"Best to just let it go," Dinah advised with a smile. "He's rather hostile towards Muggle things."

Lucy shrugged, "Can't say I didn't try. I'm afraid your DADA professor over there got a different first impression of me from being in the Order together. I was different then."

"I'm not sure what you mean," Severus said as they hurried into the warmth of the castle, stopping a moment in the entrance hall as students filtered past. He regarded Lucy with a raised eyebrow. "You were younger then. And if you have changed since, well..." he left it hanging, an odd question in his eyes as he watched her.

Lucy smiled her thanks at him for not mentioning what her father had done, "Exactly. I'm well aware young, giggly girls are not your thing. Well, I wasn't as bad as others. I've always been on the mature side. Though I do have my moments. I.." she hesitated to say what she wanted to, "I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds when I say I know what it's like to be completely changed by someone. If that magic hadn't…well, there wouldn't have been anyone else. So, in some small way I guess I'm trying to say I understand about…her."

Severus's expression didn't change much as he watched Lucy, but his eyes weren't as harsh as they normally were. He sighed. "I see."

"Probably not completely, but then I'd rather not confess all in the middle of an entry way full of students. She turned to Dinah, "Why don't I go shower and change real quick and meet you in your rooms?"

"Okay, that sounds good," she bid Lucy a temporary farewell and walked the rest of the way to her rooms with Severus.

* * *

Lucy went back to her rooms and hurried into the shower. Letting the hot water wash over her she thought about the encounter she'd just had. She'd meant what she'd said about there being no one else for her. What she was sure Severus didn't know though was that she _had_ started to move on. Move on to someone she should never have been with, someone who wasn't right for her.

Oh, sure he'd been safe and kind and she liked him well enough but she knew there would have always been something lacking. They probably would have gotten married, had two kids, and lived a very boring life together.

Lucy sighed. She should never have gone back to Gawain, but he'd been there when she needed someone and he would never put himself in a position where he'd die on her. She never should have kissed him like she had. It wasn't until after that kiss and after she'd seen Harry at an Order meeting that she found out exactly how and why Sirius had died.

In some ways that had made it better, him dying. In the end though there would have been no one else for her. She would have ended up bitter and unhappy with Gawain. Moving on wasn't always the best thing. It wouldn't have been for her, but for Severus…Dinah was someone that understood him and was willing to help or listen or whatever. She was, Lucy felt sure, willing to risk her life for someone else. Dinah was someone worth moving on to.

* * *

"You had a good time then?" Sirius asked the next day. They lay snuggled up in bed, the sky still overcast but not nearly as stormy as the night before.

"Yeah. I think we should go the World Cup if it ever comes back to England."

"Mmm. Maybe," he said, stroking her hip.

"Sirius? I was thinking…I told Snape that I understood about Lily, that there would have been no one else for me, after you. Dinah's someone he should move on to," she paused when he snorted, "She is. Even if you don't like him, she's someone willing to try."

"Oh, I'm sure Dinah's nice enough. She just seemed rather cold last time we met."

"That might have something to do with you being…a bit mean to Severus when you were kids."

"He was _constantly _following us around! More so after Lily stopped hanging around him. We didn't get on from the start. Lily wasn't keen on him hanging around so we tried to make sure he stayed away from her."

"So," Lucy said slowly, an idea beginning to form, "you four were protecting her then?"

"Exactly. Well, in our later school years anyway."

"Did it ever occur to you that she didn't need your protection? I mean, I'm not Lily, but similarly I don't need you to protect me from Nick. I don't need you to protect me from Severus either. Neither one of them are harmful really. Nick's an ass but he's always been one and he'll probably always be one. Snape does not intend me harm. Lily didn't need protection. From what I've heard about her she was well able to protect herself. Why couldn't you four just let her handle herself?"

"James loved her. He wanted to protect his girl. Kind of like how I want to protect my girl. We rallied around him and her because they were our friends. It's not any different than what Remus would do for us or what I'd do for him. If James and Lily were here…"

"If they were here it's likely we wouldn't have met. At the very least you probably wouldn't have died and we'd be in a different position now."

"Oh, I don't know. I like our current position," Sirius said, reverting to his teasing persona and moving her so that she lay on top of him.

Lucy laughed, "It always comes back to that with you doesn't it?"

"Only if I'm lucky."

"Mmm," Lucy said, kissing him, "You're about to get very lucky."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Septimus had had another outburst. Lucy was currently glaring at him, having just taken away five points from Slytherin. The boy scared her and he really shouldn't. _I don't need protection. I can protect myself_. Really, she'd told Sirius that and now it was time to live up to her words. Septimus deserved detention and not giving it to him because he had once tried to kill her, albeit unknowingly, was no reason to let him keep sliding.

"Septimus Peaks. I have told you, repeatedly, that comments like that are not to be tolerated. I have taken points from your house, but that doesn't seem to be getting through to you. I can only hope detention will." She probably should have waited until class was over and told him afterwards so as not to embarrasses him in front of his classmates, but Lucy was beyond the point of caring.

_Maybe,_ she thought, _maybe I'll go talk to Severus and see if he has any ideas on how to handle a kid like Septimus._

She didn't have a chance to talk to the other professor until her office hours that afternoon. Lucy wasn't thrilled to be skipping out on them again but she really needed to talk to him before the detention that evening.

Peeking into his classroom, she saw that it was empty and proceeded to his office. Seeing the door was closed, she knocked.

She heard footsteps on the other side, and then the door opened. He looked a little surprised to see her. "Yes?" he asked, but in a lighter tone than he'd used the last time she'd shown up at his office unannounced.

"I was wondering if I could discuss a student with you? I've been having a number of problems with this particular student and nothing I do has seemed to help. He's a member of your house, so I thought you might some ideas."

He stepped back to allow her access. "I suppose I'll see what I can do. Have a seat."

"Thanks," she said, smiling shyly. She looked around his office and before she thought better of it she said, "There are no windows in your office. I never noticed that before."

"Seeing as this is the dungeons I don't know why you're surprised. Although I suppose since you used to work in the Ministry and are used to their enchanted underground windows..."

Lucy grinned, "That's probably it. Anyway, are you familiar with Septimus Peaks?"

Severus actually grimaced. "The one Dinah calls a future psychopath and homicidal maniac? The fox abuser? He's taking your literature class?"

"Um, yeah," Lucy said, blushing. Only a few members of the Order had been aware of her animagus abilities. She wasn't sure if Snape was one of them or not. "I'm not really sure why he chose to take the class. He does the work and everything but he always comes up with the most outlandish opinions. Now, it's not really his opinions I object to, he's allowed to have his own ideas after all; they don't have to conform to mine. The problem is he continually yells and puts down the ideas of other students. I'm not worried about when he does it to Jania Whitehorn, she's confident enough to tell him to shut up or just ignore his outburst. What really bothers me is when he does it to Tad Smyth. Tad sits in the back corner of class and almost never speaks. When he does get up the courage to add to the discussion it's generally something brilliant. I've repeatedly taken points from Septimus, but I feel bad because they're usually the points I've just given to Tad and in either case it doesn't seem to be doing any good."

"I see," Severus sighed, looking a little stressed out. "The Muggle-born Slytherins again. It seems you and her are refusing to let me ignore the issue. Yes, they are generally quiet. But if Mr. Smyth is getting points for the house and Mr. Peaks is taking them away then that is a problem. I have no issue with Muggle-born Slytherins if they are contributing positively. They never have before. I hate to think this is due to Dinah's encouragement and that ridiculous survey of hers..."

Lucy giggled, "Well, maybe partially. I hate to sound self important but I'd like to think Tad speaks up in class because it's something he enjoys and has ideas about the subject. Septimus, however, generally shouts something along the lines of 'That's stupid! This is useless!' Now, grant you the book we're currently studying is rather out there and is about a wizard living among Muggles, but that is still no reason to call another student's ideas stupid or useless. I've given him detention this evening, but I've never given detention before and quite frankly I'm at a loss at what to do about his behavior."

"You gave him detention," he frowned again. "I suppose given his behaviors that was the right thing to do, but you will have to be careful with him. Septimus Peaks is... I hate to agree with Dinah but I fear he might be one of the worst Slytherins as far as dark magic and Death Eater tendencies go. I have occasionally chastised him in class for his behavior, but getting through to students like that is very, very difficult, even for myself."

"Hmm," Lucy said, "I do want to tread carefully with him. I just…I need help. I don't like asking for help. I prefer to figure things out on my own, but I've been learning I can't do everything on my own all the time. I don't know how to deal with a kid like this. I thought, with your experience, you might have come across this and found something that at least helped."

"Threatening him with points doesn't seem to work? You can threaten him with me if you absolutely have to. I can crack down further on him. The Slytherin students generally like me but I like to think they have as much fear and respect for my punishment as the rest of the houses. What kind of punishment do you intend to give him in detention?"

"Give him lines I suppose," Lucy shrugged, "I want to oversee the detention myself if I can, so that he knows I'm serious about this but I've little hope that writing out the same sentence over and over will have much of an effect."

"Manual labor is more effective than lines, I find," Severus almost seemed to take a sinister pleasure in delivering punishments to students, as his eyes gleamed a bit when he said it. "Do you have something he could clean or polish?"

Lucy laughed, "I'm a literature professor. I have books. You can't really polish them and they don't take any more cleaning than a quick dusting every now and then. I suppose I could have him empty the shelves and have him polish up the bookshelves though." She used to be more assertive than this. A couple years ago she wouldn't have been asking for advice on punishment. Lucy would have known what to do and she wouldn't have been scared of a thirteen year old boy either.

"That would be beneficial. And I think a randomization of the books would be a good move as well. Therefore, when he puts them back he'll have to alphabetize and order them as you see fit. Granted, you may still have trouble with him. If so, let me know and I will see what I can do. Remember. To a Slytherin especially, the worst punishment you can give is to have them do something by hand that could normally be accomplished by magic."

Lucy nodded, "I'll try to keep that in mind. Thanks for the advice." Pausing at the door she turned back to say, "Not to reduce you to my messenger or anything but Dora seems to have escaped on me. Her and Godric seem to get along so I was wondering if you could give Dinah the heads up to keep an eye out?"

"I can mention it," Severus said. "She is coming over tonight, so I will then if not at dinner."

"Thanks again," Lucy said, "I'll see you later." She shut the door behind her when Severus nodded his farewells. The man really wasn't _that_ bad. She truly didn't understand Sirius issue with him. Sure, you'd want to support your friends and Snape was a bit…odd, but really that was no reason to loathe the man.

* * *

Lucy sighed and looked at her new polished bookshelves holding the recently reorganized books. Septimus had done a good job and followed her instructions well; the only problem was now she couldn't find any of the books she wanted.

Well, there wasn't much she could do about it now. She grabbed a book at random and went into her rooms. If nothing else Septimus _hadn't _enjoyed his punishment, much like Severus had said he wouldn't. His attitude had also improved some, but she had little hope that it would last.

Today was Sirius's birthday. Since she'd seen him yesterday that's when she'd given him his present and made him cake. Still, though, it would have been nice if she could see him on his actual birthday. That and the fact that Dora was still missing had Lucy a bit down. Not so much that she needed help or was having hysterics. No, she just felt a bit sad was all.

Someone knocked on her door and she went to answer it. "Dora!" Lucy said, when she opened the door and Dinah was there holding her missing cat. "Where have you been?"

"Hiding in my room with Godric and somehow escaping my notice this whole time," Dinah said with a slight smirk. "Sorry about that. I was looking for her but those two are apparently very good at being incognito."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "It seems I've been a bad influence on you missy. Thanks for bringing her back. Did you want to come in?"

"Sure," Dinah smiled. "I'm free tonight. Severus has grading and I don't, so..." she stepped inside. "How have you been?"

"Not bad, dealing with Septimus is always interesting. We celebrated Sirius's birthday yesterday, it's today, so that was fun and there've been no strange occurrences since the last quidditch match as far as I know so all is well." Lucy closed the door behind Dinah and ushered Dora into the bedroom.

She sighed, sitting down on the sofa. "That's good. Maybe things will get better around here now."

"How've you been the last couple days? I noticed Severus sticking pretty close." Lucy sank down on the other end of the sofa, closing her book and picking up her hot cocoa.

Dinah smiled. "Whenever he can. Not that I'm complaining. I even got kissed on Monday, which was glorious. It's just with all the weird things happening lately... and that ghost boy Tommy I might have mentioned before... I think he's worried about me."

"Mmmm," Lucy said, sipping her drink, "Not to bypass the kiss or anything but I remember you asking about a Tommy and you've been looking up ghosts I know. I didn't realize they were one in the same."

"Yes...It turned out that Tommy was an unusual sort of ghost-like creature, that's why we never had him in any of our classes. But, I don't know... after a little bit of research and some incidents it seems that some dark magic might be involved. But I don't know much beyond that. Dumbledore knows, though, and Harry, so we're keeping an eye out for things."

"That probably explains those dark storms we've been having I suppose. So, you finally met Harry huh? What'd you think? Oh!" she said, setting her cup on the end table, "I'm sorry, do you want some cocoa or something? I should have offered sooner."

"Cocoa would be nice, thanks. Harry seems very nice." She laughed, "Of course, Severus doesn't think so. I think he was scowling the entire time."

Lucy grinned, summoning up the drink for her friend, "Harry's great. We get along, which is good because that _might _have been a deal breaker for Sirius. Anyway, is there anything in particular you want to do? I'm afraid I don't have much more than books here. I tend to spend my evenings reading or grading, especially since it's gotten colder out and I can read by the fire."

"We could play a game or something, if you have it. Severus and I enjoyed some wizard's chess on Sunday. Of course, he did nothing but beat me over and over again, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. Or I could bring another film over."

"Film!" Lucy shouted, "Sorry. You probably find them rather uninteresting at this point or something, but I find them completely fascinating."

She had to laugh again. "Okay, movie it is. Comedy, action, romance, drama, some combination of those? You pick."

"Hmmmm, How about some sort of romance? I seem to be in a romantic mood," she held up the book she'd been reading, entitled _Seduced_.

Dinah stared at the picture on the cover. "Okay. But what with all the unresolved sexual tension in my life lately I think it's _my_ turn to not be in the romance mood. So just bear with me if I keep groaning during the movie."

Lucy grinned, looking at the cover herself, "Well, you can pick something else if you'd like. I'm not picky. They really do exaggerate the people on these covers don't they? I suppose they're just proving the adage 'don't judge a book by its cover'. For instance the guy in this one is supposed to have blond hair and on the cover it's clearly black. It bugs me when they do things like that."

"I bet I can find something with some romance in it that's not objectionable to either of us. I'll be right back."

* * *

Sirius tried to be quiet when he opened Lucy's door and closed it behind him, locking it with a soft click. He wasn't supposed to be at Hogwarts today but it was his birthday and he didn't imagine Lu would mind too much.

The room was dark and he crept over to the couch where a lump indicated Lucy had fallen asleep. He stroked her hair and leaned down to kiss the top of her had before he noticed that the hair defiantly didn't belong to Lucy's head.

"Severus?" the woman's shriek was rather piercing as she jumped and moved, slamming into the back of the couch just as her hands flew up to cover her mouth.

"Dinah?" Sirius asked, confused, "Sorry. I thought this was Lucy's room. I must have gotten turned around."

"Dinah?" Lucy said, echoing Sirius. "Everything okay?" Obviously she didn't sense any danger since she hadn't moved from her end of the couch.

"Um... um... I'm sorry," Dinah stammered. "I didn't mean to... Um, yeah..." she tried to back up more but the couch and the wall were in her way.

"Just a simple case of mistaken identity Lu. Sorry again, Dinah," he said going over to the bedroom door and letting Dora out. She'd been scratching at the door since he'd come in.

"Sirius?" The familiar ginger head rose up from the blankets she'd been wrapped in. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I know how much you like traditions and _traditionally _I like to see my girlfriend on my birthday."

Dinah settled more comfortably into the couch. "What time is it?"

"Only about 11:30. Sorry again, Dinah. I didn't mean to freak you out…or almost kiss you." He started wandering over to where Lucy was sitting on the couch, Dora pawing at his feet, before he noticed two black boxes on the coffee table. "What were you two doing with those?"

"Watching a Muggle movie," Dinah said.

"They're great!" Lucy enthused, apparently distracted from the fact that he'd almost kissed her friend. "Sort of like a mix between a play and a painting. Wait," she held up a hand, "you almost kissed Dinah?"

"It was dark in here I thought she was you," he defended himself. "I stopped when I noticed the blonde hair."

"You know traditionally you stop kissing other girls when you've got a girlfriend."

"He didn't _want _to kiss me!" Dinah said, sounding surprised. "He said it was just a mistake."

Lucy just raised an eyebrow at him.

He leaned over to kiss her but she turned her head so that he caught her cheek instead of her lips. "You're not really mad at me are you?"

She didn't answer him, just leaned over and picked up Dora, holding her in her lap.

"Really Lucy, can't he make a mistake? He just said he didn't do it on purpose. How was he to know I'd be sleeping here? It's not like I asked him to try and kiss me." She stood up. "I guess I should probably leave."

Lucy sighed, "No, Dinah its fine. It was an honest mistake I suppose." She let go of her cat and Dora leapt back down to wind herself around Sirius's legs. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's okay," Sirius said, kissing her.

"Well, uh..." Dinah sat back down, but still felt funny. "Are you sure I shouldn't just leave? It is late after all and I'm sure you two want to celebrate alone."

Sirius grinned, sure he knew what Dinah was referring too.

"I mean you don't _have_ to leave," Lucy said, "If you want to its fine."

"Thanks," she smiled. "But there's not really anything left to do, is there? I mean, unless you want to try and finish the movie from wherever we managed to leave off last."

Lucy laughed, "Why don't we save it for another time. We'd probably have to start it over anyway. I don't really remember what was going on. If you're lucky maybe you'll catch Severus before he goes to bed. Don't make that face!" Lucy scolded him. He had a hard time imagining Severus Snape spending time with anyone, let alone a woman.

"Well, unfortunately that's probably out of the question," Dinah said with a slightly bitter smile.

"Um, well, I know you don't want to stay most likely, but you're welcome to. I don't want you to feel like I'm kicking you out," Lucy said, glancing at Sirius.

"No, that's okay," Dinah stood. "It really is late, but you two have fun. Um... Happy Birthday," she added seemingly as an afterthought.

"Thanks," Sirius said, "Enjoy the rest of your night. And thanks for looking after Lu for me. I've heard she can get pretty…intense sometimes."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Really, I don't think I'm that bad."

"No problem," Dinah smiled, "Good night."

"Night," Lucy said, moving to stand next to Sirius. "I'll see you tomorrow probably."

"Okay, see you then," Dinah gave a little wave before heading out the door.

Sirius picked Lucy up after Dinah had closed the door behind her. "I think it's time to go to bed," he said, heading in that direction.

"Oh, is this another birthday tradition?"

"No, but kissing my girlfriend on my birthday isn't really a tradition either," he stopped walking to kiss her for a moment, "but traditions have to start somewhere."


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Lucy grabbed Sirius's hand as they walked down the main street in Hogsmeade. He looked over at her and grinned, "Aberforth seemed happy to see you."

"Yeah, well, he always did like me. I, uh, spent time there during my school days every now and then. I think he's really an old softy. I stayed there off and on last year, helping Aberforth out." Lucy waved to Mopsey, an older lady with a lot of dogs that she'd met a few times, as the older lady passed the pair of them.

"Should we stop in at Rosmerta's?" Sirius asked.

"No, not yet," she grinned and started running out of town to a place where no one was around. "It snowed last night. I like the snow." Without saying anything else she transformed into her animagus and a minute later Sirius had done the same.

The pair of them ran around in the snow, chasing each other and biting at the lightly falling flakes. Sirius was able to knock Lucy down a few times and tumble her around, but they both knew it was all in good fun. After about an hour they transformed back into their human selves.

Sirius grabbed Lucy's arms and turned her to face him, "You're all rosy and your eyes are sparkling."

Lucy giggled, "I had fun." She leaned up on tiptoe to kiss him lightly before they started heading back into Hogsmeade. As they walked arm in arm down the road Lucy felt Sirius gradually tense. She only noticed what was causing his tension when they practically ran into Dinah and Severus outside the door to Dervish and Banges.

Lucy started to smile, worried the two men were going to start something in the middle of the street. Her eyes kept finding their way to Snape, but she looked at Dinah enough to notice her doing something similar to Sirius. The two couples just stood in the middle of the street for what must have been a few minutes, people having to go around them, before Severus scowled and marched to the door of the shop.

He stood inside the doorway, looking at Dinah, "Are you coming?" Lucy thought he could have been a bit more polite in addressing his girlfriend, never mind his rudeness in completely ignoring Lucy herself.

"Um," Dinah said, "you go ahead and get what you need to. I'll be out here. I should at least say hi to Lucy…"

"Do as you like." He continued into the store. The man could really be rude when he wanted to be, Lucy noted.

"Um, sorry about that," Dinah turned back to the couple with and awkward looking expression on her face. "I forgot you two are here during the weekends."

"It's okay," Lucy said. Sirius stood silent at her side. "Actually, if you come here on the weekends the likelihood of you catching us outside the house is pretty slim," she could feel herself blushing.

"Right, yeah..." she shrugged. " Well, Severus had a few things to pick up and then we were thinking of going to the Three Broomsticks. I'd ask you to join us, but well... you know. I don't know that it would go over well. Um, how are you, Sirius?"

"Not bad," he responded, "We were going to head on over to the Three Broomsticks as well. Rosmerta's been asking about Lu. Thinks I've been keeping her locked away or something, but we can just as easily go for dinner."

"Yes," Lucy nodded, "That'd be fine. We don't want a repeat of what happened before Halloween after all."

"Yeah, thanks. Sorry if it's too much trouble," Dinah smiled. "I was just kind of glad to get out of Hogwarts with him for once. It's kind of our first 'date'... or well, it is in my head anyway."

Lucy grinned, "Its fine. First dates are fun," she hugged Sirius's arm, "We've never had an 'official' first date really."

"Sure we did," Sirius countered, "What about that night we had dinner together a couple weeks after Dumbledore brought you to Grimmauld Place?"

"Yeah, I don't think you can count that as a date since you didn't ask me to dinner and it included most of my relatives, along with half the Order."

"Oh, but I did arrange for you to sit next to me and there was definite flirting going on under the table."

"I still don't think that's a date," Lucy said, rolling her eyes.

Dinah smiled, "Doesn't sound like one. But you could always make a point to have one now. You can dress up and go to Madam Puddifoot's or something." She laughed. "Not that you would necessarily want to."

Lucy blushed at the thought of going to Madam Puddifoot's. They'd been there a couple times, only to pick up some dessert and leave. Lucy didn't think she could sit in that shop and demurely eat the food, especially considering what they'd done with it in their own home. "That sounds nice, maybe not Madam Puddifoot's though. We could dress up and you could make me a nice, romantic, candle-lit dinner at home. We could slow dance in the kitchen, while cleaning up. Oh, I can just picture it."

Sirius cast Lucy an indulgent smile, "Okay, but it'll have to be another time. Rosmerta has refused to feed me again until I show her evidence you're still alive."

"That sounds romantic," Dinah sighed, a corner of her mouth turning up in a smile.

"Ooh, and what's that look for? Has something been going on that you haven't had a chance to tell me about?" Lucy asked.

She laughed. "Oh no, no hidden meaning there. I was just thinking that I _can't_ really picture Severus on that sort of a 'date'."

"See," Sirius murmured, trying to be polite and keep it quiet enough for Dinah not to hear, "I told you he didn't know how to properly romance a woman."

"I can see your point," Dinah said, turning to Sirius with a frown. He met her gaze instantly, looking embarrassed that she had heard him. "But you have to understand something about Severus. He's just chooses to do things a different way sometimes; it's part of his personality, and I wouldn't be with him if I didn't like him for who he is. Sure, sometimes I wish he would be more romantic, but that can come in time, and meantime I still enjoy his company. He has good qualities. Just because he doesn't do things the exact same way you do doesn't make his way wrong or bad. Surely you and I are both adult enough to admit that different people can have different personalities and that that's okay."

"I suppose you may have a point," Sirius said through clenched teeth.

"Of course she does," Lucy confirmed, "It's not like you and I always do things in the conventional manner. After all, you knew me for less than a day before you _let_ me use your shower just so you could picture me naked in there the next time you…showered."

Dinah giggled. "Actually, that might just be a male thing. But yes, I'm glad you at least understand a little bit. Oh... there's Severus," she turned to see her own boyfriend walking up to her with a bag and a sour expression.

Severus gave Lucy a curt nod, still ignoring Sirius, and then addressed Dinah. "Are you finished here? Because I still have grading to do and so if you want lunch we should have it now."

Lucy smiled at the couple, "Enjoy your lunch. I'll see you both tomorrow."

"Okay. You two enjoy your dinner," she waved and then followed Severus in the opposite direction, towards the Three Broomsticks.

"Come on," Lucy said, tugging on Sirius's arm, "I'm still feeling rather jovial from our little romp, and just a bit snuggly too."

* * *

"If you want to go to dinner you have to get out of bed," Sirius instructed, later that evening.

"Mmm, but it's warm in bed," she said, burrowing further into the covers.

"It's not exactly freezing outside of it. The fire got a little low but it's perfectly comfortable out here. Besides if you don't get out of bed you won't get any dinner."

"Oh, fine." She _was_ hungry and she'd need to eat before she returned to Hogwarts. She hurried into her robes and snuggled against Sirius on their walk to the Three Broomsticks.

"There you are!" Rosmerta greeted, when they walked into the tavern. "I was beginning to think Sirius had tied you up kept you hidden away somewhere. Though I wasn't entirely surprised that you didn't come for lunch when I saw Severus Snape come in here with that new Muggle Studies professor."

"Yes, well, we thought it best to avoid that situation all together," Lucy said, "And Sirius didn't have me tied up. We do venture outside the house." She had developed the beginnings of a friendship with the older woman when they'd been staying here earlier in the year.

"You forget I rented a room to you two. I know exactly what goes on when you're left alone."

Lucy blushed and didn't respond, just ordered her dinner. Sirius followed suit before Madam Rosmerta said, "You need to sit on opposite sides of the table if you would. I'd rather not have to throw a bucket of water on you two. I run a respectable establishment you know."

Sirius grinned and scooted to the other side of the table, "We'll behave. I promise."

"So," Lucy said, "I was thinking, maybe, if you're okay with it, we could host Christmas at Grimmauld Place. I mean there's plenty of room for all the Weasleys and the Lupins and Mrs. Tonks too if she wanted to come…"

"If you want to do that it's fine with me. It'll be good to have a lot of people in that house. I think it will be fun to get the remaining half of the Marauders together again too."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "At least Remus has some self-control. You and the twins will make things interesting enough. I'll write them when we get back."

"Right when we get back?"

"Yes," she grinned, "the minute we walk through the door. Then you can go about romancing me enough to get me to say yes to that date we talked about earlier."

* * *

Later in the week Lucy walked out of the Great Hall, figuring she'd try and catch Dinah later in Snape's rooms. She'd already tried Dinah's door yesterday and she hadn't been there so Lucy figured she was probably in the dungeons spending time with her boyfriend. She hadn't mentioned anything to Sirius about it yet but the idea had only recently occurred to her.

Looking up she suddenly realized the couple was standing just a few feet in front of her. "Oh! Hi!" she said, nervously tucking her hair behind an ear, "I actually just wanted to talk to…you…" She had only planned on asking Dinah but it would be rude not to ask Severus as well when he was standing right there.

"Oh? What about?" Dinah asked, looking curious.

Lucy's eyes dropped to the hand resting on Dinah's waist. It was Snape's hand and it really shouldn't be weird but it was…a bit. "Well, I was thinking…do you have any plans the first few days over the break?"

"Well, I was going to go back to London one of those days," Dinah said, as Severus dropped his hand. "But I hadn't decided quite when yet. I was thinking about sticking around here for a bit, maybe, but with no specific plans on what to do or anything. Why?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to come spend a couple days at Grimmauld Place with us? Severus too, of course," she added, blushing. "It's okay if you don't want to. I just thought it might be fun..."

"Oh..." Dinah said, her tone awkward. "Yes, it does sound fun," she said, looking a bit disappointed with Severus looking on, "I'd like to, but... I really don't think that it would be..."

"That would be fine," Severus said suddenly.

"_What_?" Dinah turned an incredulous glance on her boyfriend.

"Thank you for the invitation. We'll go. That is, as long as you realize it is to visit you and not ... him. You'll accept that I won't be particularly conversational were... _he_ is concerned," Severus finished, looking at Lucy.

"Yes, yes of course," Lucy said, wringing her hands together. Sirius would _not_ be pleased by this turn of events she was sure, but maybe it would be good for the two men… "He'll probably return the gesture I'm sure. I," she felt herself blushing, "I hope you don't think this is some sort of attempt to get the two of you on more civil terms. I know enough to keep my nose out of that particular issue. I really just thought it would be nice to spend a few days together outside of work, especially during the holidays."

"No, that's nice," Dinah replied, her smile still awkward. "Um... sure. What day were you thinking, then? The Saturday after classes end?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. If it works for you two that is. Oh, this will be fun!" her excitement temporarily overriding her trepidation. "Well," she said, checking the time, "I should probably go prepare for my first years."

"Okay. We can decide on times and everything when it gets closer, I guess. Thank you for the invitation," she mirrored Severus's earlier words as they bid farewell.

Well, that had been unexpected, Severus's agreement to spend a few days in the same house as Sirius, that was. Now, she just had to find the courage to tell Sirius…

* * *

"Come on!" Sirius yelled, pulling Lucy into the Three Broomsticks, gripping her hand so tight it hurt.

"Now, you can't tell me it's just a snow storm!" Lucy yelled to be heard in the crowded tavern.

"Land sakes!" Madam Rosmerta said, ushering them up to the bar, the only spot not occupied yet. "What in the world were you two doing out in this storm? Most sensible people are staying put, and the ones that got caught out in it made their way here awhile ago."

Lucy glared at her boyfriend, "_Someone_ said it's just a little snow. Yeah, 'cause snow storms are always accompanied by lightening."

Rosmerta put some drinks and food in front of them before rushing off to take care of some people at the other end of the bar.

"Well," Sirius said, "looks like we might be stuck here for tonight. Unless that storm clears up real soon, which I doubt. We should probably get a room."

Rosmerta snorted, coming back to their end of the bar, "Any rooms I had were rented out long ago. You two will just have to rough it down here like everyone else."

_I killed Sirius Black_.

Lucy gasped, standing and looking around the room. She couldn't be here. No one else had reacted and she was sure if that woman had suddenly appeared in a room full of people, they would have noticed.

"Lu? You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost," Sirius asked, putting a hand on her back.

"Yeah. Yeah," she said again shaking her head, "I thought I heard something but it was probably just the storm."

"Come on," he said drawing her into a corner of the room, "why don't we get comfortable over here and wait out this storm?"

"All right," she said, settling on the floor with their back against a wall and snuggling together. Last time she'd heard the voice there'd been a similar storm…but this time she was away from Hogwarts. Did that mean something? Severus had asked her to let him know if she ever heard the voice again, maybe he would have some ideas.

The night wore on and one by one the people in Rosmerta's tavern fell into a restless sleep. Lucy and Sirius included.

* * *

Lucy put a few fresh vegetables on her plate, admiring the festive Christmas dishes that were being used that night, when she looked up to notice Dinah and Severus approaching her. She'd been so busy grading during this last week of classes that she hadn't had a chance to tell either of them about the voice in Hogsmeade last weekend. That and Lucy thought the couple may have been fighting since they'd been relatively quiet the first part of the week.

"Hello," she said when they reached her chair.

"Hi," Dinah said; "We just wanted to double check with you that we're still on for Saturday and look at times. We were thinking of aparating over just before dinner, if that works for you. Or if you don't want to make something we can come after dinner."

"Oh, sure before dinner's fine. I'm excited. I get to play at being an adult and host people for a get-together," she grinned. It didn't take long for her smile to die away though, "Would you like to sit? The next couple chairs are empty and it's rather lonely at this end of the table."

"Sure," Dinah smiled and gestured for Severus to sit down as well, and she took Slughorn's usual seat while he took the next one down. "How have you been?" She took a turkey leg and some vegetables and mashed potatoes.

"Um, well, good mostly. Actually I wanted to talk to you but I've been so busy with last minute grading…You remember that storm last weekend? Well, I—I heard her again and you asked me to tell you if I did," she looked down playing with the mashed potatoes she'd placed on her plate while they'd talked.

"Where were you when you allegedly heard the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange?" Severus asked slowly, pouring gravy over his potatoes.

"In Hogsmeade. At the Three Broomsticks. And I didn't _allegedly_ hear anything. I did hear her," she stared pointedly at Snape. He, at least, should understand why she needed someone to believe that she truly was hearing that woman's voice. She wasn't crazy. She wasn't.

"At Hogsmeade!" Dinah's head shot up from her plate. "Not at Hogwarts?"

"Not here, no," Lucy said shaking her head, "It was Saturday evening. We…he wanted to go out for dinner. The storm hadn't been too bad at the house. We could still see where we were going, but by the time we got to Rosmerta's…well it was bad enough that she wasn't letting people leave."

"So it seems the intensity of the storms increase with proximity to Hogwarts," Severus mused. "Then, at the very least, they should not follow us all the way to London."

"I hope not," Dinah shuddered. "But what about Bellatrix Lestrange?"

"Bellatrix was extremely close to the Dark Lord," Severus said. "Rather, she was more obsessed with him than anything. He did not care about it but on her side it was absolute. Her devotion to him is what made her as dark as she was. That, in combination with the insanity she obtained from Azkaban, of course. Though, if you ask me she was quite unstable even before that."

"She loved him," Lucy whispered. "If she had nothing else good in her she knew how to love. She was horrible and crazy, but she loved him and I think in her own way she loved Draco too. I didn't know her. I don't know what she was like before Azkaban…I want nothing to do with her and I _don't_ wish her well at all, but she won't leave me alone."

"Even if you are hearing her voice, it might not actually be her," Severus said. "There may be other magic involved. On the other hand, if her devotion managed to connect her to the Dark Lord in ways that we don't understand, then..." he left it hanging, staring at Dinah.

Lucy munched on a carrot. She had to remind herself that Severus was trying to look at this logically. That he didn't think she was a crazy person. He seemed to believe she was hearing _something_; it was just what she heard that he doubted. "You don't have to believe me. I expect most people wouldn't. I know hearing voices isn't generally regarded as a good sign. But I really do think it's her," she shrugged, "Maybe I'm wrong though. I don't know if I'd rather be wrong or right. Either way it's not good."

"No, it's not good," Severus admitted. "But, as with everything that has been happening lately, we still have nothing tangible to go on or any course of action that can be taken. However, if you think of something, please feel free to mention it."

Lucy grinned, "I can think of a few things to say. None of them helpful and all of them libel to get my mouth washed out with soap," she sighed, "I know there's nothing to be done about it now. It's just so terribly frustrating to just sit on our hands and wait."

"Wow, you know, you are so right Lucy," Dinah sighed. "Right now I think that's the story of my life."

* * *

The next morning Lucy stood, all packed and ready to leave. She wasn't going until after the train had left, but Sirius was already at Grimmauld Place. He'd left Thursday while she'd had to wait to finish up her classes.

_Well,_ she thought, _this break should be fun._ Things hadn't been too bad this term and she hoped it would get better in the next, though she actually doubted that it would. There was nothing she could do about it now though. She picked up her bags and Dora, in her carrier, and walked out of her rooms. Now, all she had to was tell Sirius about their guests who would be arriving that evening. It would be okay though. She just had to keep telling herself that.

* * *

A/N: Well, if you've read up to this point I'm guessing you've been enjoying the story :) If so please check out a Christmas short story featuring Lucy, Sirius, Dinah, and Severus. It's going to posted under animalwriter's account (she's the author of The Serpents' Kiss, co-story of mine) and please review letting us know what you think!


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"Teddy!" Lucy squealed when the Lupins walked into the front room. The little boy gurgled and squirmed until his mother gave him over to Lucy. "Hi! I've missed you," she said talking to the baby.

Tonks grinned and plopped down on the couch next to her old friend. "So, we've got something to tell you."

"Hello, Lucy," Remus said, kissing her cheek in greeting.

Lucy grinned, "Hi, Remus. However do you deal with these two?"

"Oh, I manage well enough."

She watched as Remus went over and greeted his old friend. Sirius, in turn, was watching her hold Teddy. "What?" she asked, laughing. She'd been in a pretty buoyant mood since leaving Hogwarts and Sirius had been…staring at her a lot.

"Are you getting ideas about having one of your own?" Tonks asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"No, no," Sirius said, his face getting awfully red, "just…thinking."

"Oh, whatever," Tonks said, waiving off her cousin, "anyway like I said, we've got something to tell you."

Lucy laughed, "So tell me already, before I run away with your child."

"I'm pregnant!"

"Pregnant? Really? Oh, that's exciting!" Lucy grinned, "I'd hug you but my arms are currently filled."

* * *

"Lucy?" Sirius said to her two days after Christmas.

"Hmm?" She was being thoroughly distracted by Teddy.

"I was thinking we might make a trip over to Godric's Hollow. Go see James and Lily. I haven't seen them since...and I'd like to take you with me."

Everyone that was in the kitchen stopped what they were doing to look at the couple. All of them knew what was in Godric's Hollow and by now all of them also knew why it was she wouldn't want to go there.

"Um, I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you," she said just above a whisper.

Remus came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. She heard him say, "He doesn't know," before she looked up at him.

"I know," she said, turning her gaze to Sirius, "You…died."

"We, that is your friends and the Order, we pooled some money together," Remus said, taking over the task of telling him. "I don't know exactly how he managed it, but Dumbledore was able to get you a headstone."

"We buried you by James and Lily. We thought you'd like it there," Tonks finished.

"I've never been," Lucy confessed, "I was…I wasn't around when they did it and I've never really wanted to go since."

"Oh," he said coming over to where she sat, "I don't know what to say."

Lucy stood and grabbed his hand, leading him into an unoccupied room. She shut the door behind them before she asked, "Why do you want me to go?"

"You don't want to go. It's okay."

"No," she said shaking her head, "I didn't want to go and see that…see you. It was too much. Please. I...it might not be as bad as I think. After all if I go with you surely I'll be smart enough to figure out you're not really in the grave…not that you ever were, but still."

"James and Lily should still be here," he ran his hands through his hair; "They should be here to see their son grow up. They should get to see Remus and Tonks, Teddy and the new baby. They should have met you. I wish to God they'd have met you. They'd have loved you."

"Oh," Lucy nodded, understanding what he was trying to say, "I think I get it. You want them to…approve of me. I get it. They were like your family. Sometimes I think it would have been nice if Mum could have met you too."

He grinned, "And what would your mum have thought of me?"

She laughed, having only the slightest idea of what her mother might have thought of him, "Well, she wouldn't have approved of me living here. That's for sure. She wouldn't have taken my word for it that we have separate bedrooms. I think she might have thought that you were too old, too reckless, too…charming. But, she also would have seen the way you love me and how I love you. And that would have been enough for her to approve of you. Sirius," she said, wanting to bring the topic back to James and Lily, "Harry already approves of me. So does Remus, but if you need to take me to see Lily and James, I'll go. I might not enjoy it and I can't guarantee that I won't start crying hysterically, but I'll go."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she nodded. He came over and grabbed her hand. Before she knew it they were standing in the cemetery in Godric's Hollow. "Well, I didn't actually mean this minute. Grabbing a jacket or something would have been nice. I'm cold."

He wrapped his arms around her to help keep her warm, "I figured the sooner we do this the better. No sense in letting you think and have your courage fail you."

"Rat," Lucy muttered.

"Nope. Peter was the rat."

His arms slid down hers until he grasped one of her hands. She let him lead her through the cemetery, to a place she'd dreaded seeing ever since she'd heard about it. When they reached the spot, Sirius stood, quietly talking to his friends, while Lucy's eyes slid to the right. It was like a train wreck, you didn't want to look, knew it was going to be bad, and yet you couldn't stop yourself from looking.

There it was; the small stone with little more than his name and dates on it. She didn't hear the words Sirius was saying about her. How much he loved her and how he wished they could have met her because she was just that wonderful. If she had she might have been comforted. Instead all she saw was that stone and she felt the tears silently rolling down her cheeks.

"Hey," Sirius said awhile later, nudging her chin so that she looked at him. "You okay?"

"I don't know," she whispered, "I couldn't stop looking at it and remembering…"

"Hush," he said, pulling her into his embrace. "I know it probably doesn't help but everything's okay. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. Not this time."

In his arms she began to feel just how cold she'd gotten and shuddered.

"You scared?" he asked.

She shook her head, "Just cold. Are you done? Can we go home now?"

"Yes. I've made my peace with them and I think they approve of you."

"What makes you say that?" she looked up, curious.

"Their son holds you in high regard and I don't think he would if you were anything less than the wonderful person you are."

In an instant they stood back inside Grimmauld Place, in front of the fire that had been roaring in their room. Well, the room that was currently Sirius's alone, Lucy having moved across the hall.

Lucy grinned, "We aren't supposed to be here."

"I know, but its warm here and we can cozy up by the fire without anyone watching us." He drew her down onto the floor in front of the fire and held her close. It wasn't long before half of their clothes were missing and they no longer needed the fire to keep them warm.

"He told me to come up and grab it any time Ron. Now is just as good as later." A familiar voice said, interrupting the kiss they'd been enjoying.

"Yeah, but no one's seen them since Sirius mentioned Godric's Hollow and after the way Tonks was talking about them earlier…"

"Oh, God," Lucy said, rolling so that at least her front wasn't exposed.

Sirius, however, leapt up, tossing a blanket on to her that he grabbed from the nearby couch. The boys, in their turn, just stared open-mouthed at a topless Sirius. "Let's, um, not tell anyone about this and you two forget you ever saw it," he said gesturing at Harry and Ron, before tossing Harry whatever it was he'd come for.

When they'd left, Sirius sat down next to her and rolled her back over. Her face, she was sure, was redder than her hair. "We are leaving here a couple days early and going to Hogsmeade," he ground out, "I need you all to myself for a few days."

Lucy grinned, liking the way he suddenly sounded possessive of her. "Okay, if you insist."

* * *

The fire crackled in the hearth and it was warm enough in the room that Lucy had no desire to raise the sheet above her bare waist. The students would be returning to Hogwarts in two days but she and Sirius had left London early to spend a couple days alone in their Hogsmeade home.

Tired, she snuggled closer to Sirius, her head on his shoulder. She was almost asleep when she felt Sirius shift her and get out of bed. "Mmmm. Where are you going?"

Lucy opened her eyes and watched as Sirius came back and set that silly wand case in front of her face. Pushing her hair back she sat up, "The wand case. Sirius you already gave me this once and it didn't go over well then either."

He smiled, "Just open it."

She slid the top half way off and looked inside, "I don't see anything."

He sighed and tipped up the other end. A ring slid down and hit the side.

Lucy stared down at it. Everything stopped. This time though when her world stopped it wasn't a bad thing. Not like last time. "Sirius," she breathed, looking up at him with wide eyes, "what…what is this?"

"It's a Black family ring," he said, taking the ring out of the wand case. "Now, it's _not_ my mother's ring, nor is it the family engagement ring. Those are both very ugly. I thought you'd like this better. Lucy…marry me."

"I-I-I…yes," she breathed and he slid the silver ring with its solitary emerald on the third finger of her left hand.

* * *

She'd been unable to sleep last night, but that wasn't a surprise. After the proposal, she and Sirius had spent the rest of the night keeping each other up. She looked over at his sleeping form as she finished up her note. She slipped out of the house, rushing to the post office. Lucy had to send off the note to her father before she lost her nerve. It would be the first time she'd contacted him since…but he was her father and he deserved to know.

Hunching her shoulders against the wind, Lucy hurried back to the house. She was about to open the door when something made her look towards Hogwarts. Dark, heavy clouds were settling over the castle. She sincerely hoped that didn't mean another storm was coming. The students were due to return tomorrow and it wouldn't do to have the term start with a storm like the ones of last term.

After hanging up her robes, she grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen, going into the front room to curl up and watch the weather. Lucy shifted when Dora padded in and jumped up onto her lap. She found her cat's presence comforting and stroked her back. Bella couldn't get her here. At least that's what she kept telling herself.

"Second thoughts already?" Sirius asked coming down the stairs, fully dressed.

Lucy grinned, "No. I was just thinking the weather looked a little gloomy is all." She shifted again so that she could lean against Sirius, forcing Dora to move. She looked down at her new ring and sighed, "I have to go back to work tomorrow."

"Well, I can take it back and wait until summer if you'd rather spend weeks relishing each other's company."

"No! Don't you dare," Lucy said, smiling.

He gave her his trademark smile, scratching Dora behind the ears, "I couldn't have held onto it that long anyway. It was hard enough the few days I did." He grabbed her face and gave her a quick peck, "I can't do without you, Lu. That's a fact."

* * *

"Tell me I don't have to go," Lucy said Sunday evening, once again leaning up against the gates of Hogwarts.

"You don't have to go," Sirius complied, holding her close. "I'll pay you to teach me," he muttered, kissing her.

It was nearly a repeat of the beginning of the school year, them leaning against the gates. Only this time she wasn't saying she had to go. This time though, he pulled back before the students started rolling by.

He sighed, "If you don't go you'll miss your kids. You like teaching them. I can tell. Besides if you don't go, you won't get to see Dinah."

"Oh! I can't wait to tell Dinah! Tonks was so thrilled when we told her yesterday and I bet Dinah will be just as surprised!"

Sirius grinned, "I bet."

Lucy thought he looked like he was keeping some sort of secret from her, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing." He made an exaggeration of letting her go and stepping away, "If you don't go your students are going to come upon one of their teachers snogging again."

Lucy laughed, "Oh, alright. And here I was thinking you wanted to keep me around." She gave him one last, lingering kiss before stepping inside the gates and walking up to the castle.

* * *

Walking into the Return Feast that night, Lucy flipped her engagement ring so that the stone faced inward. She hoped it was less noticeable that way. She didn't want to take it off and she didn't want everyone finding out before she told certain people. Things were going to be far too busy tonight to tell anyone though. The students would be catching up with each other and the teachers would be preparing for tomorrows classes.

Sitting down next to Slughorn, she placed a few slices of roast on her plate along with some salad, before turning to him and asking, "How was your break Professor?"

"Good, good. Eugene's testing his potions on humans now and it's going very well. Why don't you bring Sirius around sometime and we'll tell you all about Eugene's potion?"

"Oh, um, I think we're busy that night."

"Some other time then," Slughorn said, apparently not noticing he hadn't specified a day for their dinner, "You enjoyed your break then? You look…different."

Lucy was surprised Slughorn had noticed what she'd looked like at all. Not to mention him noticing the giddiness she'd been carrying around with her the last couple days. "Yes. I had a very good break. I got to spend plenty of time with Sirius and my family…" she trailed off when she noticed Slughorn was no longer listening and was, in fact, having another conversation with the professor on his other side.

Well, that was fine. She wouldn't have to worry about accidentally letting her engagement news slip. Looking out at the students, she saw Ginny and Hermione occupied with friends and each other. The story was the same for most students. Moving her gaze to the other end of the staff table she saw Dinah and Severus eating together. _Good. They seem to have gotten along well over the holiday._ Her friend had considered breaking up with the professor over his feelings for Lily, but Lucy was glad that seemed to be behind them for now.

Her end of the table was far less entertaining than Dinah's, so she ate the rest of her meal in silence, making a conscious effort to keep her left hand under the table. It was a good thing she was right handed, otherwise she'd never have been able to eat. She almost decided to go see Dinah that night and abandon her half finished lessons for tomorrow, but when her friend left with Professor Snape, Lucy figured it'd be best just to wait and returned to her own room 


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

When her seventh years walked in Monday morning Lucy couldn't keep the smile off her face. She hadn't told anyone yet. It was still her secret. Or at least she thought it was. No one had said anything to her yet anyway. Part of her liked that it was still her secret to keep; the other part was bursting to tell the news to anyone who would listen.

She waited until everyone was seated before rising from her desk and greeting them, "Good morning everyone. I trust you all had a good break."

Hermione smiled, "You look like you did, Professor."

Her smile got bigger, "Yes, yes I did."

Ginny suddenly stood, "Lucy!"

Her cousin shocked her enough that Lucy didn't scold her for not calling her professor and only responded with, "Yes, Ginny?"

"Your hand!"

"What about it?" she looked down on her hands, fearing they'd turned colors or something else just as disturbing.

"The ring! Are you engaged?"

Lucy was beginning to think that if she couldn't get her face under control it was going to be aching by the end of the day. She wouldn't mind. "Yes, I am."

The other students expressed congratulations while Ginny and Hermione came up to hug her, smiling nearly as much as she was. "Alright, everyone calm down and take your seats," she tried to look stern; though she was sure she wouldn't be able to manage that particular look today. "We are _supposed_ to be starting on _Bewitching the King_ today."

"Oh, can you _please _tell us all about the proposal? We didn't even know you were seeing anyone!" a Hufflepuff named Ophelia Peterson asked.

A girl from Gryffindor, named Linnea, turned to look at her classmate, "That's not true, Lia. Ginny and Hermione knew, and maybe Luna too."

"We knew she was dating Sirius. We didn't know they got engaged," Ginny defended.

"Girls, girls let's settle down. We really do need to work and I highly doubt the boys want to hear about all this romantic stuff. I will briefly say that yes, I've been dating Sirius Black for awhile now and he proposed a couple days ago. He…well there's too much back story to tell you all right now. Needless to say, he proposed, I accepted and we're both very happy. He's gone to tell my aunt and uncle, as well as his godson today, while I stay here and try to teach you all about literature. Now, back to the Tudor court and Anne Boleyn. You'll notice as you begin reading that she is sometimes referred to as Nan Bullen. This was mainly done by her detractors and…" she continued talking about Anne, right up until it was time to release the students for lunch.

* * *

Lucy walked into the Great Hall after class looking for Dinah. She was fairly bursting with the news and wanted to tell her friend before she heard it from one of the students. She quickly spotted her sitting next to an empty seat that belonged to Professor Vector. The Arithmancy professor sometimes liked to take her lunches in her rooms. Lucy hoped today was one of those days as she changed direction and headed for Dinah's end of the table. "Hi," she said, not asking if the seat was taken before sitting in it.

Dinah laughed, "Hi." She eyed Lucy with what appeared to be a knowing twinkle in her eye, as if she sensed where this might be going. But that would be impossible. "How was the rest of your break?"

"Well, Ron and Harry caught us…organizing our clothes, but other than that it was good. Really good. How was yours?" Now that she'd come down to it, she still wanted to tell Dinah but she didn't know how.

Dinah laughed again at the organizing their clothes bit. She had used that as an excuse to be alone with Severus when they'd come to Grimmauld Place for a few days over break. "Mine was good. Lots of time spent with family and Severus and I managed to have lunch together in the afternoon on Christmas. Unfortunately, however, my clothes are still unorganized."

Lucy grinned. It was probably inappropriate but she couldn't help it. "How sad. Sirius and I actually escaped London a couple days early and went to Hogsmeade House; that's what we've taken to calling it."

"Cute name," Dinah said, and then her smile widened as she tilted her head towards where Lucy's hand rested on the table; "Nice ring."

She could feel her entire face heating "Thanks. It's a…well…he gave me a wand case."

"I know," Dinah said, and then covered her mouth as her face mimicked the color of Lucy's, "Oops. I wasn't supposed to say that." She removed her hand, and there was a huge smile on her face, "So now that the cat's out of the bag I guess a congratulations is in order."

"Thanks! I've been grinning like this for two days. It's getting ridiculous, but I don't care. I'm so hap—wait how do you know? Not that I mind you knowing," Lucy hastened to add, not wanting her friend to think she was angry.

"Oh, well," Dinah still looked embarrassed, "When we were over at your place at Christmas I kind of walked in on Sirius with the ring. It was rather cute, actually - he asked me if I thought you would be happy about it - I told him I was certain you would be. He was so nervous, though."

Lucy smiled and shook her head, "He should have known. Silly boy," she grabbed a piece of chicken and nibbled on it. "I love him. I really do."

Dinah smiled, "I know." She looked like she was about to say something else when Lucy looked up and saw Severus coming into the room and walking towards his seat.

"Good morning," he nodded at Dinah and then his gaze shifted to Lucy and he raised an eyebrow,  
"Lucy. What brings you to Professor Vector's seat this morning?"

Dinah smiled at her boyfriend and pointed at Lucy's hand, "We have marriage confirmation."

Severus snorted, "I see."

Lucy turned away from Dinah to look at the other professor, "What?"

"Be nice," Dinah said through gritted teeth.

He frowned, "I'm sorry. I simply know of no other way to express my enthusiasm on the matter. Oh, but congratulations to you Lucy. I have no objections to_ you_ being happy."

Lucy laughed, nothing was able to dampen her mood for now, "It's okay. I suspect if our situations where reversed Sirius would be saying the same thing to Dinah. Not that…oh dear I do have a way of sticking my foot in my mouth don't I?"

Dinah flushed and Severus took a very deep interest in his food suddenly, mirroring Dinah's usual zeal. "Let's, um..." Dinah cleared her throat, "Leave the 'what if's for another time."

"Sorry," Lucy apologized, "I didn't mean to make things weird. I just meant that I understand why…well not really since Sirius won't tell me what happened between you two but, well, I get it."

"Indeed," Severus muttered, continuing to address his food without looking at them again.

Dinah smiled and rolled her eyes at him before turning back to Lucy, "Just ignore him. Actually, things are going really well. You know, I think that Lily incident at your place might actually have been a blessing in disguise. He's been much more attentive and affectionate since then."

Lucy smiled, "That's good. So, am I okay to sit here or do you think Professor Vector will be coming to lunch?"

"If she hasn't shown up by now she probably won't," Dinah said. "Hagrid, too. You should take his seat, Severus."

"If I must," Severus moved over one seat, but smiled at Dinah while doing so.

"Um," Severus still made Lucy a bit uncomfortable. Not as much as he used to, but it wasn't helped that she was sitting between the couple. "Why don't you and I switch places, Dinah? Then you and Severus can sit next to each other without me in the middle."

"Oh, of course," Dinah switched places with Lucy, flashing a smile at Severus as she settled in next to him. "You know, the next Quidditch match is coming up on Friday," she said to Lucy; "Did you want to go together again? Although, it's Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin and I think we have to sit in the Slytherin stands. See?" she stuck her snake necklace out at Lucy and grinned. "I even match."

Lucy laughed, "I saw that at Christmas, remember? But sure, yeah, we can go together if you two don't mind me tagging along. I don't have a problem representing my house in the enemies' territory. I mean that all in good fun, of course," she added in case it hadn't been clear.

"Yes, but the Slytherins are not quite so fun-loving as you are, I'm afraid," Severus frowned at Lucy. "I don't mind, but you might get some glares. That's a fair warning."

"Not even if I make the concession of wearing some Slytherin colors?" she asked, grinning and flashing her ring at him. "Truthfully though, I'm used to it. Especially at quidditch games. Tonks and I…well we made quite a pair."

Severus turned his frown to the ring. "I can't say how the students will respond. There would be no problem if you didn't wear all your Ravenclaw memorabilia. But it's your decision. You're welcome to join us, regardless of how you are dressed."

"I don't have a problem with your house or any glares and booing I might receive. Just as long as they don't pummel me with rocks," Lucy gasped, not believe she'd let that slip. Her hand came up to cover her mouth, eyes wide in disbelief.

Dinah just stared at her for a moment, not seeming to registering what she was talking about, and exchanged a glance with Severus.

"To exactly what are you referring?" he growled. "I know my students are sometimes intolerant and some can have Death Eater tendencies but I highly doubt they would choose to pummel _rocks_ at one of their professors. If you are going to be so judgmental then even Dinah should have something to say about-"

"Oh my gosh!" Dinah shrieked.

Severus turned his glare on her; "What? I was still talking. So you do disapprove of your friend's apparent Slytherin prejudice, I hope?"

Dinah ignored him. "Lucy, that was _you_?"

Lucy slowly nodded. There was no point in denying it now that the pair of them knew about her animagus. "Yes," she whispered, "I'm sorry. That day you came to my room to check on me I couldn't tell you. I couldn't _think_ well enough to come up with anything other than I couldn't remember. I know not going to Madam Pomfrey and telling her that didn't make sense but like I said my mind wasn't working properly and all I could comprehend was that she couldn't know about me. Not that. It's all still a little hazy I'm afraid."

"Oh my..." Dinah put her head in her hand. "This changes everything. Lucy, I'm _so_ sorry. To think that was you! I mean, it's horrible nonetheless but imagine if the students _knew_ that it was really you! Are you sure you're okay? Exactly what did they do to you? It was unprovoked, right? You were just sleeping?"

"Hush, Dinah," Severus said, his tone quiet as he stuck a hand in front of her. Dinah bit her lip and complied. He turned to Lucy; "Septimus Peaks did that to _you_? You were a direct witness and recipient of this... abuse?"

Lucy closed her eyes. Sometimes she really wished she didn't babble on like she did. "Yes, he did and yes, I was," she told Severus. To Dinah she said, "I was just sleeping. Had I been using all my senses he never would have caught me. I'm really okay," she tried to assure her friend; "It seems my…guard dog is more concerned with my well-being than I am at times. That Wednesday he had me straight up to Madam Pomfrey."

"I'm glad," Dinah frowned and turned to Severus. "You realize what this means, don't you? Lucy wasn't attacked!"

"Um, I don't know about you but I consider getting kicked and hit with rocks attacked. I had at least two cracked ribs and a rather nice concussion because of it." Dinah's statement was confusing Lucy. Of course she'd been attacked.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Dinah said, "I meant you weren't attacked by some mysterious unknown. Severus and I were thinking it... had a connection to the dark magic floating around lately, because you apparently couldn't' remember anything."

"Ah," Lucy said, "No, as far as I know it had nothing to do with that." She glanced up at the cloudy sky in the Hall. They hadn't gotten any worse that she'd noticed, but they hadn't gone away either.

Dinah looked up at it as well. "Yeah, it's ominous, isn't it? I hope nothing happens again."

"Lucy," Severus said suddenly. "I'm sorry if I am in any way responsible for the behavior of a student such as Mr. Peaks. Slytherin does not condone animal abuse nor the formation of Death Eaters, and will not as long as I am its Head of House. If Peaks does anything further that is suggestive of such behavior you can trust that he will be punished appropriately." He turned his firm expression back to his plate and stabbed at some food.

"Severus?" Lucy said, quietly, "I didn't really think they did and I don't think you had anything to do with it. I'd say a good deal of the blame should land with his parents but then some people just aren't nice. I do appreciate you saying that though."

"Fine," he replied flatly.

"Severus," Dinah smiled and put a hand on his arm. He turned to look at her and nodded almost imperceptibly, then tilted his head in the direction of the student body. She looked out at the hall. None of them seemed to be looking at them, but she let go of his arm.

Lucy sighed, wishing Sirius could be there so she could do something as simple as put her hand on his arm. "That must be nice. Well," she said, "not all Slytherins are bad. I mean Tad Smyth is a smart, if somewhat self-conscious kid. Then there's those two," she nodded toward Derwent Lympsham and Agrona Huntingdon, "They're cute together."

Dinah looked over at the two Slytherins Lucy was referring to. Agrona had her arm looped into Derwent's and was trying to feed him a carrot from her fork while he laughed and pretended he wasn't hungry. She had to smile. "They _are_ rather cute." Severus just rolled his eyes and returned to eating.

Lucy laughed at Severus's reaction, "Well, maybe it's a woman thing. I've got office hours next," she said, finishing up the last of her chicken, "which gives me an hour to be all girly and stare at my new jewelry. Unless a certain cousin of mine decides she just _has_ to have help with the reading I assigned."

"Good luck with that," Dinah said, but was more focused on the odd expression Severus had turned to her. "What?"

"Nothing. Lunch is almost over; as I recall, you have a rather full schedule today."

"Yes, my afternoon is swamped. I have classes straight through until dinner. And after dinner I have my post-holiday meeting with Dumbledore. Can I come down to the dungeons after that?"

"You don't need to ask, simply come," he stood. "Now, we all have work to get to."

"Yes, well, I can almost guarantee I'll get nothing done but I should at least make the attempt. I guess I'll see you two Friday, if not before. Should I meet you in the dungeons again or would you rather come to me this time?" She stood, mirroring Severus's actions and moving over to the side so that the other two professors might pass ahead of her.

"We can meet you this time, I think," Dinah said, and bid farewell to Lucy and Severus as they all parted to go their separate ways and continue their first work day back at Hogwarts.

* * *

That night Lucy snuggled into bed, her new blanket wrapped around her. The blanket was by far her favorite Christmas present Sirius had given her. It had the pair of them in their animagus forms curled up with Dora. He'd even used it as Snuffles so that it smelled like the dog.

Dora leapt up onto the bed and curled up next to her. "Well," Lucy said, stroking her pet, "What do you think? This going to be a good year?" She glanced towards her nightstand where her engagement ring and her mother's lay next to each other. "It's going to be the best one yet, I think. No deaths and no more voices. This year's going to be great," she told her pet, before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

"I understand congratulations are in order," Minerva inquired at breakfast Tuesday.

"Yes, thank you," Lucy said, grinning and blushing. Word had quickly spread through the school about her impending nuptials.

"Congratulations? For what?" Slughorn asked sitting down in his seat.

Lucy sighed and rolled her eyes at Minerva. Apparently not everyone had heard.

Minerva smiled and filled her colleague in, "Lucy became engaged over the break."

"Engaged?" he began looking interested in the conversation, "In what?"

Lucy blushed and thought about replying 'in bed', which would technically be true, but she thought better of it. Tonks or Dinah might get a laugh out of such a response but Slughorn would just be confused. "Um, to Sirius actually. Not in an activity."

"Ah, well then congratulations are in order! Imagine…it must be wonderful to be part of such an illustrious family. Is that a family ring?" he asked, grabbing her left hand. "Rather plain, isn't it? One would think a family such as the Blacks would have more elaborate pieces of jewelry."

"Excuse me," Lucy said, tugging her hand back into her possession, "Thank you. Actually it isn't the family engagement ring. I don't know exactly which member of the family this came from but I'm guessing it wasn't Walburga. Sirius didn't like the traditional engagement ring and personally I think this is the best ring he could have picked for me."

"Oh, no offense meant of course. Regardless of the jewelry's design, it's lovely and an exciting time for you I'm sure. I assume this means Dumbledore will be looking for a new literature professor for next term?"

"Why in the world would he be doing such a thing Horace?" Minerva asked, looking a little offended.

"I plan on staying actually. There's no reason for me not to. I enjoy my work very much and Sirius is supportive of that. I already talked to Dumbledore this morning and we agreed that if anything should come up where I will have to take time off or am no longer able to do my job we will deal with it than. There is no point in worrying about something that isn't happening." _Sometimes,_ she thought to herself, _I should really take my own advice. Easier said than done though._ She wasn't too worried about anything at the moment. Bella hadn't come back to haunt her since last term and she was taking that as a good sign. Perhaps it had been stress making her hear that voice.

"Good, good," Slughorn was saying, "We've had far too many changes in faculty over the past couple years. It will do the students good to have consistency."

Both Lucy and Minerva shook their heads at the strange potions professor.

"Well," Lucy said, standing, "I should be getting to class now. It's a whole new term and we've got a whole new book to start on." She walked away from the breakfast table smiling, even Professor Slughorn hadn't manage to dampen her good mood much.

* * *

Lucy yanked on her Ravenclaw hat and put her earmuffs over the top of it. "Now, Dora," she said, looking down at her cat, "Severus and Dinah are coming over. You are not to hide when you see him. After all you seemed to like him well enough when he was at the house."

In response Dora looked at her and meowed.

"Now what do I do with this?" She held up her engagement ring, "It won't fit under my gloves and the gloves are too thick to put it on _over _them. What do you suggest?"

Dora just stared at her.

"Well, you're not very helpful," she said, walking to the door when someone knocked. "That's probably Severus and Dinah. Maybe they'll be more helpful…well maybe Dinah will be." She pulled open the door to see the couple standing there together. Once again her eyes dropped down to the arm Severus had put around Dinah's waist. She'd noticed he'd been more touchy-feely lately. It was…different. "Hi! Sorry, I'm almost ready. Just got to figure out what to do with this," she held up the emerald ring.

"Um... I don't know. Polish it?" Dinah laughed, apparently she had no idea what Lucy was talking about. "Although it's beautiful and sparkly enough already – what?" she added, as Severus was giving her a funny look.

"Nothing," he turned back to Lucy. "I take it your gloves won't fit over it?"

Lucy laughed at Dinah's obliviousness and turned to Severus, "No, the stone sticks up too much and the gloves are too thick for it to go over them."

"I see. Well, can't you simply find a safe place for-" he growled and looked down at his feet, where Dora was now rubbing against his legs.

Dinah laughed. Unlike her cat, Godric, Dora wanted to cuddle more than she wanted to play. "That's so cute."

"Would you mind removing this problem?" Severus asked Lucy through gritted teeth.

"Sorry," she said, picking up her cat. "You missy are going to get yourself in trouble," she told Dora before putting her in the bedroom and shutting the door. "And, no I can't just find a safe place for it. I want to keep it with me."

"Well, that excludes most of your options then," Severus muttered.

"I have an idea!" Dinah was anxious to make up for her denseness earlier. "Could you get a chain or string and wear it around your neck?"

"Oh, yes! Thank you. I'll be right back," she opened her bedroom door to get a chain from her jewelry box and Dora raced out to cuddle with Severus again before Lucy could stop her. "Sorry, she's quick." She left the door open while she took a minute to slide her ring over the gold chain she grabbed and secure it around her neck. "There we go," she said coming back into the room, "all set."

"Nice," Dinah nodded at the piece of jewelry and then at Dora. "What would you like me to do with this one?"

"Take her down to the dungeons," Lucy laughed at the look on Severus's face at her comment, "No, really you can just stick her in the bedroom and close the door. Otherwise she'll be out here cuddling Severus again."

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" Dinah joked, causing Severus to roll his eyes. She placed that cat in the bedroom and closed the door. "All right; let's get going. I made sure to dress appropriately this time."

Lucy grinned, following the couple out of her rooms and closing the door behind her, "You know dressing inappropriately for the current weather conditions is sometimes beneficial."

Dinah laughed. "Not when your significant other is vehemently opposed to public displays of affection, it's not." As if to emphasize her comment, Severus began looking around, making sure no students had heard her say 'significant other'. "Oh please, stop, I have more discretion that that," she gave him a playful swat on the arm when she knew no students could see.

"I gave you a scarf last time; what more do you want?" he stared at her.

"Oh, I could think of a few things but I think I'd get in trouble if I said them out loud," Lucy grinned, ducking when Dinah swatted at her. "Well, if you want my opinion, an arm around the shoulders never goes amiss."

"Or sharing your robes. They're large and flowing enough, you know," she fingered the material of Severus's robes with what was a semi-flirtatious smile; her face red with embarrassment from Lucy's comment.

"You've made your point," Severus snatched his robe from her. "And you know that if the students found out it would be no end of humiliation for the both of us. Myself, especially."

"I thought you didn't care what they said about you?"

"Maybe I care more than I like to admit," he said quietly, "Now enough talk of this; we're approaching the Quidditch pitch," Severus said.

Lucy couldn't help but say, "Just one more thing. The students caught one of their new professors engaging in a pretty intense snogging session upon their arrival to Hogwarts last term. I've heard no teasing. Well, none that didn't come from Ginny or Hermione that is."

"Really?" Severus snorted as they climbed into the Quidditch stands. "As I understand it no one has ever called your boyfriend a greasy git. He has always been quite happily on the other end of the teasing spectrum, as I'm sure he will be pleased to tell you."

"He's right, Lucy," Dinah said softly as they slid into some seats. "We just won't overdo it for now."

"Well," Lucy said, feeling bad that she hadn't filtered her words, "there is that. I wasn't trying to say you should do something similar and I wasn't referring to him either."

"You weren't?" Dinah tried to lighten the mood. "Then who else were you snogging at the beginning of last term?"

Lucy laughed, "Oh, you know, his French cousin, Pierre."

Dinah giggled. "That's _so_ funny, Lucy. It reminds me of something my aunt said at Christmas. Somewhere along the line she got the impression that my mysterious..." she looked at the Slytherin students surrounding them, some already glaring at Lucy's Ravenclaw robes; "friend's name was _Seveurs_."

"That's too funny! Well, I feel conspicuous. Nothing but my own fault I suppose. There goes the quaffle," she said, pointing out the start of the game.

"Excellent, Slytherin has taken it," Severus said, settling into his seat as the stands cheered.

"The weather is so nice today," Dinah said, looking up at where the sun beat down on them. "A nice contrast from the last two games, isn't it?"

"Yes. It makes things so much happier when the weather is nice like this, at least it seems like it. Oh!" she said, ignoring the pitch since Slytherin had just scored, "Did I tell you Professor Slughorn more or less asked if I was going to be quitting next year? And that was after he asked Minerva what I'd become engaged in over break."

Dinah had to laugh; and shook her head while Severus continued to be absorbed in the game. "That man can be very...oh, I don't even know sometimes. Imagine thinking that you would be quitting. I mean, certainly some women do but I don't think in this day and age that should be an instant assumption. If I was getting married and someone suggested that to me I would be pretty insulted."

"Eh," Lucy shrugged, "I've gotten kind of used to him saying things without thinking. Apparently I should be overjoyed at the thought of becoming a part of the illustrious Black family…even if the ring is not quite as elaborate as one would think. Sometimes he can be rather amusing. Especially when he realizes he's said something off-putting."

"Oh no, he's harmless really," Dinah agreed. "But he does often say things without thinking." She covered her ears as the Ravenclaws took the quaffle and scored, sending a loud groan through the surrounding stands at the same time as Lucy leapt from her seat, shrieking and clapping with joy.

The group of Slytherins around them all stopped groaning and turned to stare point-blank at Lucy. She looked around noticing all the attention and flushed, sitting down with a little cough of embarrassment.

"What the-?" a cocky student's voice complained. "Professor Ketteridge, you _can't_ cheer for Ravenclaw if you're sitting in the Slytherin stands!"

Lucy wanted to respond but could do nothing before Severus stood abruptly in his seat and turned the most potent death glare she'd ever seen on Septimus Peaks

"Mr. Peaks, we do not speak that way to our professors for any reason," he snarled, causing the boy to shrink back in his seat.

"I didn't even say anything! She just can't come in here and-" the fox-abusing student began to protest.

"How dare you!" Severus was nearly shouting at the boy. "Do I not make myself clear? There is no excuse for your behavior and you have no authority to make judgments on anyone until you are an adult of age in the wizarding world. Your opinions are irrelevant and your behavior is, again, inexcusable. Five points from Slytherin!"

It was now time for the stands to turn their shocked glares on Severus. She turned around to stare at the head of Slytherin House like the others around them.

"Professor Snape!" Astoria Greengrass squealed. "You can't – you have never even once taken-"

"My comments apply to you as well, Miss Greengrass," he said, his quiet voice harsh; "Your petty student rivalries do not and shall not extend to your professors. We treat adults with respect no matter their house affiliation. Know your place!" He sat back down and no one could argue with him after that.

"Um, ah," Lucy didn't know what to say. She was glad Severus was gentlemanly enough to come to her defense, but his response had been so explosive. If she was honest with herself Septimus sometimes scared her. His comment this time though hadn't been that big of a deal. "Thank you," she said, looking at Severus.

"Hm," Severus's response was noncommittal and the anger still hadn't left his face. "That was not done for you. Those words were a long time coming for Peaks. After the incident you spoke of on Monday, I simply decided that now was the most opportune moment to do something about it."

"Still, I appreciate it. It's not often someone comes to my defense like that. Good catch!" she yelled, trying to bring the focus back to the game.

Dinah finally found her voice and looked up at the sky. "You know, it's getting so warm out with the sun beating down on me... I think I'm going to remove my outer robe," she tactfully took off the robe that functioned as a winter coat and placed it so it was lying across hers and Severus's laps, causing him to shoot a raised eyebrow at her. "Wait for it," she smiled, "How's that for incognito?"

"If you freeze to death I am not being held responsible," Severus muttered.

"I don't think that's possible," she smiled. "You were amazing back there, by the way."

He shrugged. "I did what I had to do."

Lucy grinned, "What are you two doing over there?" she asked quietly, hoping the students didn't overhear.

"Why nothing whatsoever, why do you ask?" Her friend flashed Lucy an innocent smile, but made sure the robe didn't fully cover Severus's lap anymore.

Lucy's face turned red. That hadn't been what she was implying. She shook her head at her friend, "Dinah, even I'm not that bold."

"Um," Dinah's face turned redder than Lucy's and she turned a glance on Severus, who was staring at her with that raised eyebrow again and a completely unreadable expression. She shrunk down in her seat a little and turned back to Lucy; "I know that's not what you meant but I still thought it might be safe... you never know what people might think..."

"In that case we shouldn't be doing this at _all_," Severus said under his breath, almost growling.

"Oh, fine," she let go of his hand and put the robe back around her shoulders with a shrug. "It was fun while it lasted."

"Sorry, didn't mean to put a damper on your fun," Lucy told her friend. "Oh! Come on! That wasn't fair!" she shouted at the pitch after two Slytherin chasers knocked one of the Ravenclaw beaters off his broom.

"Really? I didn't notice anything unfair about – ow!" Severus snarled, turning to Dinah after she swatted his upper arm.

"I didn't hit you that hard," she glared at him. "No cheating."

He sighed; "I have said that I am not responsible for what the players do."

"Well, stop turning a blind eye to it. Slytherin didn't cheat this much when Slughorn was Head of House."

Lucy bit her lip. She didn't know how true Dinah's statement was but she didn't want to be the cause of an argument between the two of them. "He looks like he's all right. Oh!" she said when the snitch flew in front of her face for a few seconds and fluttered away again.

"Wow," Dinah said, "I don't think I've ever seen one so close to the stands before – oh, Slytherin is after it!" she leaned forward in her seat just as Severus did the same. If Slytherin won this game it would put them at two winnings, giving them a good shot at the Quidditch Cup. But soon the Ravenclaw seeker dove in after him, making it an intense head-to-head race.

"I wonder if it would have counted if I caught it," Lucy said, watching the seekers race for the snitch. The two players went behind one of the towers and came back out the other side, one clearly happier than the other, "I think he got it! Ravenclaw won!" Once again she jumped up and down, cheering for her team and ignoring the glares and boos that came her way.

Severus growled and stood up. "Infernal seeker. Does he have any idea how much this will hurt our chances at the Quidditch Cup? I will not tolerate incompetency in my play... ers... um, let's just go back into Hogwarts," he trailed off as Dinah glared at him again.

She turned to Lucy. "Congratulations. Ravenclaw played an excellent game."

Lucy giggled. Severus's responses could be so amusing sometimes. In some ways she could see why Dinah liked him so much…not that she was going to let Sirius know that. Not with things like they were anyway. "Thanks. Slytherin played well too, for the most part. You two have any plans for this afternoon? I've just been banned from Hogsmeade until the evening. We're going on a date," she told Dinah, blushing.

"Would you like my robe?" Dinah teased, holding it out to Lucy.

"No, thanks," she could feel herself grinning again, "I don't think we're going _out_ and even if we do, it won't be the first time he's had to walk close behind me."

"This is horrifying," Severus groaned. "Are we done yet?"

"Oh, all right. You know you secretly enjoy this conversation, right?"

He sighed. "Let's just go back."

"All right," she repeated as they made their way out of the stands. "In all seriousness Lucy, that sounds like it will be a lot of fun. Is it that romantic date you mentioned before Christmas? With the dancing and candlelight and such?"

She was sure she must be blushing again. Her face certainly felt hot. "I think so, but I don't know for sure. It's a secret. Mmmm," she sighed, "It's almost like being sixteen again or something. Does he like me? He touched my hand; did he mean to touch my hand? It's okay," Lucy said, seeing Dinah's expression, "You can laugh. I know I'm a nut."

"I'm not laughing, I'm smiling," Dinah said with a chuckle. "Okay, I laughed a little, but only because you mentioned it. No, I think that's nice. Sometimes those simple pleasures are just lovely. I mean..." she trailed off, looking up at the sunny sky and changing the subject. "It really is such a nice day. It was snowing in London, but here it's-"

"London?" Severus turned a confused look on Dinah. "What were you doing in London?"

"Oh!" she gasped and covered her mouth, flushing. "Nothing. I just meant... I heard it from somewhere..."

"Well, I'm curious now too. What's with the mentioning of London? Not raiding Grimmauld Place were you, hmmm?"

"No, I... just went to pick up a few things. It's not against the law. I'm an adult. I have an apparition license. I can do what I want whenever I want to. No more third degree," she marched ahead of both of them.

They were far enough behind the group of students that Severus was able to grab her hand when he caught up with her, forcing her to turn around. "What were you doing in London? Does this have something to do with..." he raised an eyebrow and left it hanging.

"No, it has nothing to do with that. I... went to Flourish and Blotts to look for more research materials, that's all. But I found nothing of use."

"I could have told you that, and how does that not have to do with-"

"In answer to your question, Lucy, we were just going to catch up on grading and lesson plans tonight so that we can spend the weekend together for Severus's birthday." She ignored Severus's audible groan at her mention of the birthday plans.

"Fun! Mine's in a week and a half. The twentieth. I'm not angling for anything, in case it sounded like it, by the way. Well, I suppose I could do some grading and plan a few lessons. Of course, if you'd rather be by yourselves that's fine too. I don't want to force myself on you."

"Oh, well Happy Early Birthday! You can join us tonight. Why don't we all do it in my place now – _now _what?" she demanded, as Severus was glaring at her again.

"Must you tell the whole world?"

"I hardly think Lucy constitutes the whole world," she rolled her eyes. "Do you think we could do it in my rooms this time? That way Lucy doesn't have to come all the way down to the dungeons."

"Whatever. But we are seriously grading – no girl chat and in the name of everything sacred would you please keep that stupid robe out of it?" He snatched the robe she was still holding in her hands and wrapped it around her shoulders for her.

Dinah flushed, clutching the robe around her, "Okay."

Lucy giggled, "I suppose we can lay off the girly talk if you insist. So, Severus, you're going to be, what, thirty-nine? I bet you two can't guess how old I'll be. Really, I'm practically an old lady," she said, teasingly, stepping into Hogwarts.

"Um," Dinah began, embarrassed as they all convened on the door to her rooms; "Well, I know I'm quite a few years older than you. What does that make me? Don't hold us in suspense;" Dinah laughed at that because Severus's look as she opened her door with the key suggested that he was in anything _but_ suspense. "How old are you going to be?"

"Twenty-six. It's kind of funny because I received a letter from Aunt Molly a couple days ago telling me she always knew I'd end up with 'an older man'. I don't really think of him as older though, or any of you really."

"Wow..." Dinah stared at Lucy once they were inside, "You are... so young. I mean, well no offense. It's not that I think you're childish or anything and I do appreciate your thinking that we aren't old, but... honestly the truth of the matter..." she sighed, her gaze shifting to the sparkling ring around Lucy's neck for a moment. "I must really be an old lady."

"Don't be ridiculous," Severus's voice was quite strained next to Dinah. She looked over at him. He was glancing between her and the Lucy – or maybe her and the ring, and then wandered over to the couch and sat down, resting his head in his hands and shaking his head. "You still have time."

Dinah walked over to him, sitting down and curling into his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his. "Time for what?"

He pulled back so he could look at her as she lifted her head from his shoulder. His eyes almost looked a little sad as he traced her cheek with a finger and gave her a brief kiss. "Still time for... things."

Lucy carefully backed up, feeling a bit out of place now, "Um, I'm just going to go grab my grading and I'll be right back," before she exited the room she said, "Just so you know I've been calling myself an old lady since I was four…" and rushed out before they could respond.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

In her rooms, Lucy took a couple breaths. She sensed she'd upset the couple some how, but she hadn't really meant anything by her comments. Her babbling really could get her into the most awkward situations sometimes.

Before she went to pick up some parchments from her little office area, she decided to let Dora out of the bedroom. The grey cat sat, staring at her before deciding to walk slowly out of the room. She smiled at her moody pet and picked up the things to be graded and grabbed a lapdesk she kept beside the couch. Looking at Dora again, she smiled. Lucy stuffed the parchments under one arm and scooped up her cat with the other. "We're going to Dinah's room to grade," she told her, "While we're there you can visit with Godric, but you're to be on your best behavior and not get up to any hijinks with him." She exited her room, pulling her door shut with her foot and headed back to Dinah's hoping things weren't so weird when she got there.

When she got there she put Dora on the ground. Godric immediately ran up and the two cats began to sniff each other.

Lucy laughed, "See now Dora, isn't that worth being shut up in the bedroom?"

Dinah watched the animals with a slightly crooked smile. "Well, we'll see. I wonder if I should cast a protection spell for good measure. Do those work on non-human animals?"

"I've no idea! Well, it can't hurt," she drew her wand and cast the spell, "if it's going to do anything that'll take care of it. I, um, didn't say anything I shouldn't have before did I?" she asked, settling into a chair, "My mouth sometimes runs away with me you know."

"No, it's okay," Dinah smiled. "It wasn't you. I don't know what's up with Severus lately. He keeps giving me funny looks at the oddest times and I know _something_ is bothering him but I just can't figure out what."

"Hmmm. Well, when Sirius does that generally he's up to something or he's interested in…organizing clothes. Have you tried asking him what's up?" Lucy glanced over at the cats, who were now chasing each other around the room and sighed, "Dora, I told you to behave."

"She's fine," Dinah waved the cats off with a laugh, and then turned serious again. "I've asked him numerous times but he won't answer me. I don't think he would be so stressed out about something he was going to surprise me with. As for the organizing clothes bit, the only thing I can think of is that he wants to but is still worried about betraying Lily. I guess that could be it," she sighed and put her head in her hand. "I'm _still _fighting a losing battle, aren't I?"

Lucy shrugged, "I don't think so." She hesitated to go on, knowing Severus would probably be back soon, but perhaps if she told Dinah…maybe her friend would worry less, "Okay, confession time, and quickly before Severus gets back. You remember what I told you about Gawain? I didn't quite tell you everything. Um, it was after Sirius was killed and…I was just starting to get back to being…a person. I think I told you Gawain and I saw each other a couple times then? It was a little more than that actually. He kissed me. The first time I cried. I was sad and confused and it wasn't right. It wasn't him and by him I mean Sirius. The second time, I thought maybe I could do this because Gawain was…he was safe and familiar and he wasn't going to hurt me. I didn't realize at the time he couldn't hurt me because I didn't care about him.

"It's hard, letting that go. It takes time. I think him wanting to be with you is a good sign. It's like he's trying. He's kissed you; he had to willingly make that choice. He cares about you. Maybe he's afraid of hurting you. I don't know. I just…" she shrugged again.

"Maybe..." Dinah admitted. "I don't want to get my hopes up, but you are right that those kisses had to be his decision. It must be hard, dealing with feelings for two people at once. I guess I could be a little more understanding?"

"Everything will out in time. It's not always easy and can be incredibly frustrating but you'll get there."

Dinah smiled. "Thanks. Thanks for telling me that."

Lucy grinned back at her friend, "You're welcome. Letting someone you love go is hard. It takes time and the person you move on to has to be something pretty special to be worth the effort." Lucy whipped her head around, following her cat's beeline to the door.

Severus stepped inside to one cat batting at his robes and another rubbing against his legs. Accosted all at once, he could do nothing but stand there and roll his eyes at no one in particular.

"Oh, here," Dinah laughed and stood, running forward to grab the cats. "Lucy, do you mind if I shut them in the bedroom with some food and water for the duration? Otherwise Severus is not going to be able to get any grading done." She struggled to hold Godric as he pawed at Severus and Dora as she squirmed to escape.

Lucy laughed, "No, not at all. It's funny. She used to be terrified of him. Don't know what's gotten into her. Maybe Godric had a talk with her."

"Maybe," Dinah dumped the cats into the bedroom and shut the door, coming back to stand by Severus's side. She took his arm; "Or maybe it's like they say. Animals can really tell if you're a good person or not. I think they must trust you, Severus."

"Indeed," he scoffed, not looking like he cared much either way; "Well, shall we begin? Unless you intend to continue doing this tomorrow instead of 'celebrating'."

Lucy looked at the stack she had to grade and sighed, "I'm not going to get all this done before I have to leave, but I can always finish up tomorrow. My fault for not giving them a _maximum_ length."

Severus snorted; "What kind of genius students do you have? I get nothing but inferior imbeciles who write the bare minimum."

"I think I'm in the middle," Dinah said, before Severus could start complaining about his students again, and the three of them sat down for a night of social grading.

An hour or so later, Lucy rolled up the parchment she was reading and stretched, "Well, I need to get going. Do you want me to take Dora with me or is she fine to stay for the weekend? I don't mind either way."

"Sure, she can stay," Dinah said. "You used the protection spell after all. How long did you make it last?"

Lucy opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by Severus's incredulous, "You used a protection spell on a cat?"

"Yeah," Dinah tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and turned to look at him, grinning and hunching a little in embarrassment; "Does that... not work?"

He stared at her for a minute before bursting into laughter. "I don't believe that is especially productive. But I think I can come up with a variation if you're that opposed to kittens."

"I like kittens, I just don't need them right this minute," Dinah said. "You can really just come up with something?"

Severus shrugged; "I have invented a fair number of spells in my time."

Lucy grinned, "I'm impressed. Well, thanks for watching Dora. I'll be back Sunday night if you get sick of her. See you later. And Severus? Happy Birthday." She waved, shutting the door behind her.

* * *

She'd gone back to her rooms to get herself all done up before leaving for Hogsmeade. The house was dark when she arrived but when she knocked Sirius opened the door right away and covered her eyes. Laughing she asked, "What are you doing?"

"I want it to be a surprise," he said, leading her through the house.

When he removed his hand from her face, she saw the kitchen covered in candles. The table was set with dishes that looked suspiciously like her grandmothers. The food was plated and arranged in a way that made it look like he'd spent a surprising amount of time making it look just so. "Oh, Sirius," she breathed, "it's beautiful."

"Yes, just beautiful," he said but he was watching her and not the room. "And now," he whirled her around so they were facing each other and started moving them about the room.

"But there's no music," she protested.

"Don't need any," he told her, pulling her in closer.

"But the food's going to get cold." Why was she saying such things? Was she trying to be difficult?

"Shut up," Sirius finally told her, "I'm trying to give you your romantic first date here and you're being difficult."

"Mmm," she laid her head on his shoulders and closed her eyes. "Thank you for this, but I hope you know I don't put out on a first date."

Sirius chuckled, "We'll see about that."

Their dinner didn't get cold but it wasn't hot by the time they got around to eating it. Eventually they made their way upstairs to the bedroom. Lucy gasped when she saw what he'd done to the space. It'd been transformed from the sunny yellows and wood tones it had been to blues and silvers. "It's snowing!" she said walking into the middle of the room and twirling.

"You like snow," he said, grinning at her.

"I love snow," she breathed. She could hardly believe he'd done something like this for her. The dinner and the dancing had been enough. This was so much more than she'd ever thought of. She could tell by his face her joy made him happy.

"You deserve special things like this," he said, walking into the room and grabbing her, beginning another slow dance.

Lucy looked up into his eyes, "I don't know what I ever did to deserve you but I'm sure glad I did it."

Later, when they lay in bed together, Lucy thought about how wonderful their first official date had been. She hoped, even though it might not have been the best time for such a thought, but she hoped that Dinah could get to a place like this one day. It was so nice to feel special. It was a feeling she hadn't had very often in her life and she treasured it.

* * *

"Professor Ketteridge!" Slughorn shouted happily Monday morning, when Lucy sat at the table.

Chuckling to herself, Lucy said, "Yes, Professor Slughorn?" If Sirius kept her in this good of a mood too much longer Slughorn was likely to get the impression that she enjoyed talking to him or was interested in everything he talked about.

"I'm planning another Slug Club party this Saturday. Normally, as you know, I have a Christmas party before break with members of the Club, but Eugene's testing got rather time consuming and it was just impossible to hold one. Anyway I was wondering if you'd come and bring Black with you? It's not a reunion this time just members of the Club and faculty."

"Oh, um, sure," she said, rather stunned that he'd invited them to another party, "I'm sure Sirius would love to come." That was a lie. She knew he wouldn't enjoy it at all but he'd go, if only because she was apparently going.

"Excellent! I'll just send him off an owl then, inviting him and letting him know I've already talked you into coming. Now, I must be off. I need to catch Dinah and Severus before they disappear on me." He was gone before she could even bid him a farewell.

The man was…interesting. He seemed to have way more energy than many people Lucy's age. Looking down at her plate she saw she hadn't even taken a single bite.

* * *

By that evening Lucy was ready to cuddle up in her rooms with a good book, but first she needed to retrieve her cat. It'd been nice not having to worry about Dora, but she missed her and wanted someone to snuggle up with…if her pet was willing.

She knocked on Dinah's door. It opened quickly and Dinah looked like she was on her way somewhere when she said, "Oh, hi. Come to pick up Dora?"

Lucy smiled, "Yes, if we can manage to tear her away from Godric that is. Did you have a good weekend? Was she any trouble?" she asked stepping inside when Dinah motioned her in.

"Um," Dinah tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and lifted Dora up from the floor, handing the cat to Lucy. "Dora was fine. I'm afraid she might have been giving me the cold shoulder a little bit yesterday after I got mad at the two of them for bugging Severus, but it was nice to have her here. She was good company."

Lucy giggled a bit, scratching under her cat's chin, "She can be rather moody, but she's mostly good to have around. She didn't leave you any…presents did she? She will do that sometimes if she's really upset. She hasn't done that in a long time though so I'm hoping she grew out of it."

"Uh, no I had no problems," Dinah laughed.

"Good. Now, you've told me how Dora's weekend was but you haven't said a word about yours yet. I brought this with me," she said taking out a present she'd bought for Severus yesterday, "It's just a quill. Excellent for taking notes though and I thought you might pass it on to Severus for me. You'll probably see him before I will."

"Oh," Dinah stared at the small package, "Well, I'm going down there right now. You could walk with me and give it to him yourself if you'd like."

"That's okay," she said, setting the package on the table, "I've got a book calling my name. You're avoiding the question by the way." Dora squirmed around, tired of being held if they weren't going to be going anywhere.

Dinah sighed and sat in one of the chairs; "I'm sorry. This weekend was just weird. You know all the advice you gave me on Friday after Quidditch? Well, I guess it doesn't quite apply to my relationship with Severus as much as I hoped it would."

"Advice? Oh, you mean what I told you about Gawain?" she settled into another chair, letting Dora go; "I kind of rushed that a bit since I knew Severus was coming back soon."

"That's okay, it doesn't matter. Everything you said made perfect sense... for two completely different people."

"But, the thing with me was I didn't _want_ to move on. I tried with Gawain because I saw how it made Aunt Molly worry less, not because I had any real desire to. He kissed me, not the other way around, and those kisses felt like little betrayals. I know that probably doesn't make anything better…"

"It's okay," Dinah repeated, flashing Lucy a smile. "Maybe it's more similar, after all. Severus essentially told me... that he _will not_ get over Lily." She shrugged; "It's okay, I've accepted it. We're just going to maintain the status quo... probably forever."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I know I said there wouldn't have been anyone else but the truth is I don't really know that. It felt that way at the time. It hadn't even been a year when Gawain and I…you know. I wasn't ready, it was too soon and he wasn't the right guy. I've actually talked with Tonks about this and I think if she and Remus had never been involved he could have been someone I would have been able to move on with. Not because he was one of Sirius's best friends but because we're pretty similar people. It might have been a much less exciting life that I was living but I would have been perfectly happy in the quiet, bookish existence we'd had." She paused, not sure that her words were any help at all; she was just going on instinct.

"Um... thanks," Dinah said, tears to springing to her eyes again.. She looked away and wiped her eyes, "I'm not really sure this is helping. I just have to get used to it is all. I mean, I think somewhere I haven't completely given up on him but I don't want to get my hopes up either. I have to at least acknowledge the possibility that he'll never love me, if I'm going to honestly stay with him."

"I'm sorry," Lucy said, sympathetically. "There's probably nothing I can say to make it better. Just don't give up hope, I'd say. I mean he's not completely indifferent to you. He's hung on to his feelings for Lily for a long time. I'm guessing it's not only hard to let them go, but scary too, especially if he thinks that's all he's had to live for. And if I get obnoxious with the engagement and such, just tell me. I don't want you to feel like I'm shoving it your face or anything."

"Thanks," Dinah said with a grateful smile. "It's not you so much, really. But I appreciate the gesture." She sighed. "I guess there just aren't really any answers to be had right now."

"Probably not, but sometimes even just talking about it helps. I'm here if you need anything." She yawned, "Sorry. I guess I haven't quite made up for the sleep I lost out on Friday."

Dinah raised an eyebrow at Lucy, mimicking Severus.

Lucy blushed, "Sorry! And I even just said something about doing that too."

She couldn't help but laugh. "It's okay. Actually, it's rather funny. I needed something amusing today."

"Glad I could help," Lucy said, smiling. "If you want amusing you should have been in my sixth year class today. Astoria Greengrass compared _Moving Mountains_, the book we started on, to Draco Malfoy's sixth year. It was inventive I must say."

"Wow, that girl is obsessed," Dinah stood up with another laugh. "She's been nagging Severus about Draco this entire year. Annoying him to no end, I'm afraid."

Lucy laughed, standing and going over to grab Dora from the couch next to Godric, "I can imagine. Happily for me she hasn't figured out he's related to Sirius yet. It's only a matter of time I suppose. "

"Uh oh," Dinah grinned as they walked to the door, heading out into the hall as she shut it behind her. "Well, best of luck to you with that. And thanks again. I guess I'll see you at Slughorn's party if not before. Severus has agreed to come this time, so you might want to just warn Sirius in advance."

"Oh, right, I forgot all about that. My memory must be slipping," she grinned. "Yeah, I'll let him know. Thanks for telling me. Have a good night," Lucy said, carrying Dora back to her rooms.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Things were better, Lucy thought as they left Hogsmeade House Saturday. She hadn't been worrying as much and she hadn't had any zombie like attacks since early last term. The worst besides that day in class had been the night she'd gone to see Dinah and they'd watched a movie. That night had turned out well. Dinah had been right that night. She didn't have to be alone to be making progress. She'd been okay that night after all.

She looked over at Sirius as they apparated to just outside Hogwarts grounds. Lucy had done as Dinah suggested and warned him Severus was going to be at the party. He hadn't been thrilled but then he wasn't thrilled about going to the party either. To be honest neither was she but then it wouldn't do to be a complete recluse where her colleagues were concerned.

"Ready?" Sirius asked when they were standing outside Slughorn's door.

"Yeah," she said glancing towards the window. The clouds were swirling and snow had begun to lightly fall.

"Worried about the weather again?"

"Mmm. These storms just aren't natural and I can't figure out why."

"Let's just go in and put the weather out of our minds for now," Sirius said, ushering her inside.

She assumed his attitude was based on the 'the sooner we go in the sooner we can leave' concept. Looking around she saw a number of people gathered around. Most hovering around the food table.

"Ah! There you are! I've been wondering where you two were," Slughorn said, running to them.

"Yes, here we are," Sirius said, dryly.

"Well, I must go make sure everyone is enjoying themselves. Please, feel free to get some refreshments." He was gone before Lucy could say thank you and went off to bug Minerva and Professor Sprout as far as she could tell.

When they walked over to the table they saw Dinah and Severus standing nearby.

"Wonderful," Sirius muttered.

"I told you he'd be here. Be nice," Lucy whispered back. "Dinah. Severus. How are you?" she asked, grabbing a plate and filling it with snacks for both her and Sirius.

"I'm well, thanks," Dinah smiled.

"Well enough," Severus muttered, keeping his gaze locked away from Sirius. "Uh... thank you for the quill, by the way."

"You're welcome," Lucy said, grinning.

"What quill?" Sirius asked, staring pointedly at her. Probably to both avoid looking at Severus all together and also to avoid any legilimency the other man _might_ be tempted to use.

"Just never you mind. It has nothing to do with you. Here eat this," she said, shoving a couple green olives in his mouth.

"Oh!" he said, spitting them out into his hand, "Lucy! Those are gross."

"Mmm. I know," she said, grinning mischievously and grabbing a napkin for him to use.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dinah grabbed a bunch of green olives and devoured them. "They're delicious."

"You would probably find anything delicious," Severus said, taking one of the green olives from her and eating it. "Still, green olives are not disagreeable."

"Yes, they are Snii—Snape," Sirius said, nearly saying Snivellus and throwing one of the offensive pieces of food at him.

"Sirius Ly—!" Lucy smacked him with her free hand, "That is not nice! In fact it's downright rude and childish!" She was sure her face was beat red with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry about that," she said to the other couple.

Dinah's face was turning as red as Lucy's as she glared at Sirius. "Lucy, _you_ have nothing to apologize for," Dinah said, turning away from Sirius.

"Black..." Severus snarled, staring down at the olive at his feet, his hand reaching for his wand.

"Don't," Dinah grabbed his arm just long enough to get him to stop. "It's not worth it." She turned to Lucy. "Just so you know, I have no problem with you not liking green olives. Different people have different tastes. And that's _okay_. Let's go, Severus, I think Eugene just came in and I want us to talk to him." She marched away and Severus followed her over to the potions assistant.

"Really?" she said, turning to Sirius, "You couldn't just leave him be? I love you but honestly sometimes you can be a right git, you know that?"

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't mean it like that?" he said, bending to pick up the offending olive before a house elf could get it. "I would have done the same thing to you."

"_That_ was an attempt to be friendly?" Lucy asked, shocked that he was attempting to be nice to the man in any respect.

"Yes. Clearly it didn't work though."

"Sirius, throwing food at me is one thing. I already like you, but throwing food at people that don't know you well or even like you is not going to make them feel any friendlier towards you."

He shrugged, "Look, I don't really care about the guy but you seem to want us to be on friendly terms, so I tried. Okay?"

Lucy nodded, "Okay. I think Azkaban might have done something to your social skills."

Sirius smirked and grabbed her around the waist, "That's okay. Snape's never had much in the way of social skills either…at least not the kind normal people have."

Lucy smiled, "You called him Snape."

"Yeah, well, you're rubbing off on me. Stop it." He leaned down to kiss her.

She didn't notice at first when the lights went out, it was the gasps and shocked screams that alerted her to it. The thunder that accompanied the sudden darkness made her stiffen in her fiancé's arms.

_I killed Sirius Black._

Lucy squeaked in fright and clung to Sirius.

"Whoa, it's okay. Developed a sudden fear of storms, have you?" Sirius said, holding her close, uncaring about the plate she'd dropped.

"Yes," she whispered.

"It's okay. I've got you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he told her, much like you would to comfort a small child.

"I want to go home. I don't want to stay at the party anymore," she said, pressing herself against him.

"Just as soon as the lights come back on," he assured her, rubbing her back. "You'll at least want to say goodbye to Dinah."

She shook her head, her nose brushing against his chest as she did so, "No. She's mad at you and probably doesn't want to see me right now either. I just want to go."

"We can't apparate out of her and I can't see well enough to lead us out of the castle just yet. Just a few more minutes," he said, starting to rock her.

From somewhere in the room she heard Dinah yell, "Severus!" and the lights came back on.

"Let's go," Lucy pleaded. She wanted to get as far away from Hogwarts right now as she could manage.

"Alright," Sirius said, "We're going." He led her out of the room and back to Hogsmeade House without stopping to talk to anyone. For that, Lucy was grateful.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Lucy sat on the couch Sunday, stroking her cat. The night had been horrible and she'd spent it clinging to Sirius in bed. He might have slept some but Lucy hadn't in the slightest. There had to be some connection to the storms and her hearing Bellatrix's voice. They always happened together, never one without the other lately. At first she hadn't been hearing the voice but once she'd started every time a storm had come she'd heard her; repeating that phrase over and over.

As she struggled to put the thoughts from her mind, to stop thinking about what was going on when she couldn't find the answers, she fell asleep, not waking until there was a knock at the front door.

Getting up, Dora leapt to the floor and headed for the kitchen, while Lucy went to answer the door. "Yes?" she said, opening the door. On the other side were two teenagers. A girl with blonde hair and a boy with long, black, greasy hair and a rather large nose. They looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't place them. Obviously neither one of them were in her classes. "May I help you?"

"Lucy…" the girl said, twiddling her thumbs before noticing her action and shoving her hands in her pockets. She must know the teens if the girl knew her name…but how?

"Do I know you?" she had to ask. She couldn't place them and it was better to come out and ask the question than pretend she knew them. "Are you students? This isn't a Hogsmeade weekend. And you two shouldn't be here on a Sunday anyway."

"Look at me," the girl pleaded. Apparently she was the spokesman for the two. "You definitely know me. Severus and I drank a potion by accident. Eugene Wilkins's Youthening Potion."

Those words allowed Lucy to figure out who was standing at her door, but it just couldn't be…could it? "D-_Dinah_?"

Dinah looked miserable. "Yes," she said, quietly nodding.

"But how- what did – how could-?" she couldn't form a full sentence in her mind, let alone speak one. "That potion got into the wrong hands? How did you drink it without knowing? What could-"

"It's a long story," Severus cut in, and Lucy's shocked gaze shifted to him. So, this rather pathetic looking teenager was Sirius's arch nemesis in school? What had he ever found threatening in this kid?

"Severus! Is that – _really _– you?"

"Yes, it is, now could we come in, please, I don't like standing around out here looking like a scruffy pubescent teenager," he snapped.

"Oh!" she jumped and stood aside, "Yes, please, come in. How can – I mean what can we do for you?"

"I just needed to talk to someone about this problem," Dinah said softly, taking Severus's hand and pulling them both into the front room. The couple sat on the couch Lucy had just vacated and Lucy settled herself into a chair sitting opposite them. The three professors sat staring at each other for what felt like forever. "Um, so yeah this is what happened," Dinah said awkwardly. "I even feel different. That potion is strong."

"Mmhm," Lucy said distractedly, continuing to stare.

Severus sighed and Dinah turned to look at him. The poor boy looked so uncomfortable sitting there. Well, Lucy thought, the teenage years weren't kind to most and from the little she knew they'd been worse than average for Severus. "I know we look strange, so please stop staring," Severus said, sounding less snappy now and more resigned.

"Oh," Lucy said, blushing. She hadn't meant to stare. It was just so…odd to see them both like this. "I'm sorry. It's just that you both look so – different. How long will this last? How did it happen?"

Dinah shrugged, "Someone put it in our drinks, I guess. I don't even know who. We were actually trying to have a picnic by the lake and so nobody was around us when we drank it. I can't imagine Eugene would do such a thing though."

"Is it permanent?" She'd had to ask. Lucy knew Eugene had wanted to make his potion a permanent one but she didn't know if he'd succeeded. It would be horrible to be stuck in your teenage body for the rest of your life.

Dinah shrugged, "I don't know. Obviously there must be a way to make a reversal potion. But whether it will wear off on its own, and when, is questionable. Eugene wanted it to be strong – _wanted _it to be irreversible except by counter potion. I don't know if he's succeeded at that yet."

"But you have classes to teach!" It was a rather ridiculous statement Lucy knew but it was the first thing that had come to her mind and it subsequently popped out of her mouth. "You can't just... I mean, would you explain to the school and teach them like that?"

Severus mouthed something Lucy couldn't hear, but she saw Dinah reach over to squeeze his hand in a gesture of comfort.

"That's why we wanted some external advice," she explained, "or at least some... thoughts?"

"Hmm," Lucy frowned and shifted in her seat, "I mean...I don't know. This really is a dilemma."

"Don't we know it," Severus grumbled.

"Lu? Who was at the door?" She heard Sirius call from the kitchen.

Lucy sighed and stood up, "All right, you two wait here. I'm going to go prepare him for this before I let him in."

In the kitchen she looked at Sirius. How in the world was she going to explain this?

"What's going on?" he asked, when she just continued to stare at him.

"Um, well," the best thing to do would be to just blurt it out, "It seems Dinah and Severus somehow accidentally ingested Eugene's youthening potion and well…they're in the front room…they look like they're about fifteen or sixteen…"

"You're kidding!" he exclaimed.

"No, I'm not," she assured him, "Just _please…_I don't know but be nice. Dinah looks upset enough as it is."

"I've got to see this," he said, looking far too happy.

Lucy led him back out into the front room, trying to shield her friends from view as long as she could.

"No way!" Sirius burst into laughter when Lucy finally stood aside to let him into the room.

Dinah blushed and looked at Severus, who looked about ready to bolt from the room. Lucy couldn't blame him. She'd probably have felt the same way, but there was nothing she could do about his situation.

Dinah stood from the couch and walked up to stand in front of Sirius, "This is no laughing matter," she said firmly, "We don't want to be in these forms and we need help to reverse this or at least figure out what to do until it can be reversed. Please take this seriously."

"But- but this is too funny!" He pointed at Severus before announcing, "Just like when we were kids, huh? It's _Snivellus_!"

Later, Lucy couldn't be sure of what possibly went through Dinah's head when she stood and slapped Sirius across the face. She only knew that the action had happened so fast she hadn't time to react other than to exclaim, "Dinah!"

"I'm sorry, Lucy," Dinah turned a momentary glance on her friend, "But I'm not going to sit back and accept this any more. I _can't _accept it any more. He has to learn that he can't treat people this way," she turned back to Sirius, who stood there stunned with his hand up against his cheek, "Don't you _ever_ call him that again!"

Lucy was stunned. She couldn't make her mouth form the words she wanted to say. Didn't Dinah know that he'd been trying to be friendly? Didn't she know about his efforts to break an old habit? He'd been _trying_. Wasn't that all she'd asked from Severus? How could she expect more from Sirius? It seemed unfair to Lucy's mind. They'd both been trying. Sirius's efforts were just…less obvious. Probably because he lacked self-control. The man needed to learn self-control. Oh, _why_ couldn't he have managed that at some point in his life?

"Dinah..." Severus said quietly, but the other woman didn't look away from Sirius, her face full of anger. An anger Lucy didn't understand.

"I've had it!" she shouted, her hands clenching into fists. She looked as if she was seeing someone else instead of Sirius's reddening face. "You and your group always treated him like dirt. And why? For what reason? He never did _anything _to you! Yes, he eventually became a Death Eater and he did call you names sometimes, but he never actually _did _anything to you worthy of the torment you and your stupid friend James gave him!

"He actually tried to _avoid _you if you recall! But James and your arrogant little group of friends chased him down every time! And for _no reason_! Even so, James at least had some virtue. But you... he never did anything to you and yet you..._you_..."

Lucy stood there, her eyes wide as saucers, trying to take everything Dinah had said in. She looked towards Sirius, silently asking him to make this all make sense. She'd known he'd teased Severus in their school days but…

He wasn't looking at her. Instead Sirius was looking at Dinah, hands out in front of him and a look of pleading on his face. Pleading? Why in the world would he be pleading with Dinah?

"You sent him to _die_!"

"What?" Lucy breathed, looking from Dinah back to Severus. None of this made sense and no one was explaining anything to her. Sent Severus to die? She'd known there were things in his past he didn't want her to know about but in her heart of hearts she also knew he wasn't a murderer. Not like Dinah was implying.

"You were about to have him killed! _Killed _and for no reason at all! How... how on Earth can you justify something like that? He didn't even deserve the normal torment that you gave him and you were so easily willing to just let him go and get killed by-" she broke off for a moment, and then her fists clenched tighter, "As far as I'm concerned, you _are _a crazy murderer. I don't care what the press says. You're no different than the rest of your disgusting family."

"Please..." It was the first thing Sirius had said since Dinah slapped him.

"No!" she shouted, unshed tears in her eyes, "No, I won't listen to this any more! You may say you regret that part but if you don't regret the rest of your unnecessary torture you might as well not regret trying to kill him either. Severus regrets _everything _from his past! He's a better person than you'll ever be! Until you learn to treat other _human beings_ with the respect they deserve I won't have anything to do with you!"

The entire room was silent. Lucy couldn't think. She needed…she didn't know what but it certainly wasn't all this shouting. She wanted to cover her ears and bury her head but she couldn't do that. She wasn't five and not hearing or seeing this wasn't going make it all go away. If she could just think!

"I'm done," Dinah shook her head, her clenched fists still trembling, "I'm just done." She grabbed Severus's arm, "Come on Severus, we're leaving!" Ignoring Lucy's stunned look and Sirius's shocked, pained expression, Dinah stormed out of the house with Severus in tow.

* * *

"What? I don't…" Lucy just stood there, staring at the spot where Dinah and Severus had been.

"You weren't supposed to know. I didn't want you to know about that, about what I did. It was stupid. He was just such a nosey little git. I wanted to teach him a lesson. It got a bit out of hand I'll admit..."

"I don't understand!" Lucy shouted, finally getting her mind to form a full sentence. "What was she talking about? What did you _do_?"

"Come here," he said, grabbing her hand loosely, giving her the chance to take it back if she wanted. "Sit on the couch with me and I will tell you."

She let him lead her to the couch and sat next to him, allowing him to loop his arms around her before he started.

"You know some of our background and how he was obsessed with Lily," Lucy nodded and he continued, "He was such a perfect little Slytherin and Death Eater in training. My parents would have loved to have him for a son instead of me, except for that pesky half-blood status he has. He followed us around all the time, especially once he realized something was up with Remus."

"You mean he knew about…"

"Remus's furry little problem? No, but he knew something wasn't quite right. He'd sneak around behind us trying to figure out what was going on. So one day I'd had enough and told him how to follow us to the Shrieking Shack. The idiot wasn't supposed to go as far in as he did! I figured once he got close enough to hear the noises and maybe get a peek or two at Remus that'd be enough to scare the snot out of him and he'd finally leave us alone. Unfortunately he went all the way inside, nearly got himself killed. Lucky for him James was there to save his neck. A fact which Snape hated by the way."

"So, you were jealous of him?"

"What? No! Whatever gave you that idea?"

"You said he was just the kind of kid your parents would have loved," she stated calmly. "I know you say you hated your parents and everything they stood for but is it so unbelievable that a part of you would want and seek their approval? If Severus was everything they wished you could have been…maybe you were jealous. You just never knew it."

She turned to look up at him. He looked as if he was considering something he didn't want to examine too close.

"I suppose," he started, "there may be some truth to what you're saying…"

"Then I think you need to tell them that. Tell them what you told me. If you didn't mean for Severus to nearly be killed they have the right to know. I need to go find them."

"No. Wait," he said grabbing her left hand as she stood. He looked worried she wouldn't come back. It was something she was used to feeling but never thought she'd see on his face.

She sighed and sat back down. "I'm coming back. I love you. That's unconditional. Even if you were a crazy murderer I'd still love you. I'd still marry you."

"Please stay," he asked.

"Okay," she said, somewhat reluctantly lying down on the couch with him, "I just wanted to make sure they were okay."

"They will be. Snape's a survivor. It's something he's always been good at."


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Wednesday morning Lucy opened her eyes to a sunny day. It was her birthday but she wasn't as excited for it as she'd been last week. The revelations over the weekend had been disconcerting to say the least. To make matters worse Dinah had been avoiding her since then. Or at least she thought Dinah was avoiding her. Lucy hadn't really seen her friend except at breakfasts.

She dressed and headed to the Great Hall, sat in her seat and grabbed a muffin. It wasn't much but it was really all she felt like eating at the moment. Even Slughorn was ignoring her today. He was sitting next to her but pointedly talking to the professor on his left rather than bothering Lucy as he normally did. It wasn't much different than the way she'd spent her meals when she'd been a student really but back then she'd at least looked forward to seeing Tonks later in the day.

Her fifth year class went well enough she supposed. She knew she hadn't been as enthusiastic about her subjects as she normally was and she felt as if her students had been following suit. Everything seemed to be dragging that day despite the sunny weather. Slogging into her office she slumped into her chair waiting for students that wouldn't come. At this point it wasn't just Dinah that was bothering her. She hadn't even gotten anything in the post that morning. It probably sounded selfish but that wasn't how she meant it. Molly and Arthur always sent her something small, occasionally she even got her own Weasley sweater complete with the letter L knitted into it. Really, she'd have been happy with just a note saying "Happy Birthday" but she hadn't even gotten that.

She looked up when someone knocked at her open door. Lucy didn't expect Hermione to be standing there but she was; Ginny slightly behind her. "Um, Professor? Can we come in?"

"Yes, of course. What do you need help with? I'm afraid if it's about the homework it won't be much help this close to class but we can still discuss it if you want."

"Oh, no. We didn't want to talk about class," Ginny said, pushing her way into the room. "We wanted to wish you a happy birthday! Why do you look like you're not very excited?"

Lucy shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it with her cousin, "It's nothing really, just one of those days."

"Well," Hermione said, "Maybe this will cheer you up." Both girls reached into their pockets and pulled out small gifts for Lucy that they set on her desk.

"The blue one is from me and Harry, the red one's from Hermione and Ron," Ginny told her.

"Thank you! You didn't have to get me anything you know."

Ginny shrugged, "I know, but we wanted to."

She reached for Hermione and Ron's package first. Inside was a set of lovely peridot earrings. "Hermione! These are lovely! Thank you!"

The younger girl blushed, "You're welcome. I got them over break when I was with my parents. Ron and Ginny said you like those…"

"I do," she confirmed setting the gift down and picking up the one from Ginny and Harry. What she found inside was a necklace that matched the earrings. "Ginny, thank you! I'll have to write Ron and Harry notes."

"You're welcome," Ginny said, "Actually you might not have to write them notes. Harry's been here the last couple days working on something and he said Ron's probably going to be here sometime soon too."

"Oh, I wonder what Dumbledore needs Aurors for? He's made no mention of a reason to me but then there might not be a need for him to."

Ginny and Hermione nodded before Ginny opened her mouth to say, "Mum wanted me to let you know she hasn't forgotten your birthday and she does have something for you but you know how she is and she hadn't found it in time to send it for this morning's post. She promised it would be here tonight but you never know."

"Did she happen to mention what it was?" Lucy said, eager to know what it was Aunt Molly was sending.

Laughing, Ginny shook her head, "No. She knows you're nearly as bad as Fred and George when it comes to presents. Mum wouldn't tell me just so you could bug me about it all day. No, she said she refused to even hint to me what it was so you would concentrate on doing your job."

"Well, I'm hardly going to be concentrating now."

* * *

Lucy turned out to be right but that wasn't a bad thing. After all, thinking about her present kept her from worrying about Dinah and how she was avoiding her because of what Sirius had done. Neither Dinah nor Severus had been at lunch or dinner but they hadn't been for the last two days so she tried not to read anything into that.

Opening her door, she jumped when Sirius rose from the couch. She hadn't seen him when she first came in. "You scared me!" she told him when he stared at her.

"What? You didn't expect me or something?" he teased.

She rolled her eyes, "I did. I just didn't see you there and I wasn't paying much attention." She looked down at the envelope he held in his hand along with a larger box he'd set on the end table. "You brought me presents?" she asked.

Sirius laughed, "Yes, but these aren't it. These both arrived by owl while I was waiting for you."

She looked at the box before taking the envelope out of his hand and sitting on the couch. It was silly, she knew, but she liked opening the bigger gifts last and opening the envelopes first. She broke the seal and lifted out the contents to find a gift card to Flourish and Blotts with a note that simply said "Happy Birthday From Dinah".

Sirius plopped down next to her on the couch. "So what'd you get?"

She handed him the card and the note, "Why would she do that? She's mad at us…I don't…"

He sighed, "She's not mad at you, Luce. She's mad at me."

Lucy shook her head, "No, she's been avoiding me all week. I only see the pair of them at breakfast and then they're only there long enough to eat and run out. She hasn't made any attempt to talk to me and usually she does. Plus Dora's been whiny and I think it's because she hasn't seen Godric lately. She misses him."

"Godric?"

"Dinah's cat."

"I'm sorry Lu. I can't go back and change what I did. I don't know why she's avoiding you when you didn't do anything but the best I can say is give her time. She'll find you when she's ready to talk."

Lucy sighed, "I suppose so. I should at least send her a thank you though. At some point you are going to have to apologize to Severus, you know. I'm not saying right now; I don't think he'd believe you anyway, but at some point."

"I know," he said, leaning over to grab the box off the end table, "Now, don't you want to know what this is?"

"You're just trying to distract me, but I have to admit it's working," she said taking the box from him and opening it. "Oh!" she whispered when she saw the contents and took out the note to read it.

"What is it?"

She continued to read the note as she handed him the box.

"A crown?" he asked, looking inside. "Someone gave you a crown?"

Lucy frowned and shook her head, "It's not a crown. It's a tiara. It…Aunt Molly says it was my mother's. It says she wanted me to have it for when I got married and Aunt Molly couldn't think of a better gift for my birthday now that we're engaged. She wore it when she got married. See?" She picked up a small picture of her mother on her wedding day and handed it to Sirius.

"You look a lot like your mother," he said.

"Thanks. I'd hate to think I take after my father too much," she said, placing the picture back in its place, "Now, where's your present?"

"You mean the present I got you? I left it in the bedroom."

She lowered her eyebrows, "Sirius Lycurgus it's not one of those presents that seems to be for me but it's really more for you is it?"

He looked the picture of innocence when he replied, "No, of course not. We'll both enjoy it."

* * *

Lucy fingered the earrings Hermione had given her the next day at breakfast. She'd sent a thank you note to everyone who'd given her gifts that morning though she was sure no one but Dinah could have gotten them yet. Well, Sirius hadn't gotten a thank you note but she figured last night had been thanks enough for him.

Minerva looked over at her and smiled, "From Sirius? I understand it was your birthday yesterday."

"It was, yes. But no, these are from Ron and Hermione. This," she said, touching the necklace, "is from Harry and Ginny."

"Oh, then he didn't come yesterday?" Minerva asked, raising her eyebrows as if that was hard to believe. It was. He hadn't missed many Wednesdays since they'd decided he should come on that day. In fact the only time he hadn't come on a Wednesday was on the odd week that he came earlier in the week…or the time it was his birthday.

"He did," Lucy confirmed.

"I assume he at least outdid your cousins' very lovely gifts."

Lucy smiled. Minerva was being uncharacteristically nosey and she wasn't being very subtle about it either. "Well, he already did enough at Christmas time but yes I enjoyed his gift just as much as the others. In fact I'm wearing it now but it's not something meant for public viewing."

"Oh," she responded, blushing, "I suppose that's what I get for asking. Honestly," she paused, "I was hoping to distract you from whatever it was that's been making you glum the last few days. With a few exceptions you seem to be a fairly happy person and it's been rather disconcerting to see you so unhappy. Is everything all right between you and Sirius?"

"Yes, wonderful. It's just…" she gestured down to the other end of the table where Dinah and Severus hid behind Hagrid's big frame, "everything that's been going on with Dinah."

"Ah, yes. It is a troubling situation isn't it? The two of you have become close friends if I'm not mistaken."

Lucy shrugged, "I thought so." It was true. She _had_ thought they were close. They'd shared a lot of personal things over Christmas. She didn't think Dinah would have told her about her feelings for Severus if they hadn't been friends. She wished she knew how to fix it but she had a feeling Sirius was right. There wasn't anything to do but wait.

* * *

The thunder was what woke Lucy Saturday night. Or was it early Sunday morning? Lucy couldn't tell, the snow blowing so hard she couldn't see much past the bedroom window. Dora sat at the end of the bed, staring at the couple, her tail twitching in agitation. "Looks, like another storm Dora," Lucy whispered, "Come on up here." She patted the space near her chest between her and Sirius.

"Mmm?" Sirius muttered, rolling over, only half awake.

"It's another storm," she murmured, jumping when another rumble of thunder struck.

The cat jumped on to Sirius's chest and Lucy was as close to him as she could get. "You really are afraid of storms now aren't you?"

"Just these ones," Lucy whispered, snuggling closer. Sirius soon fell back to sleep, his arm holding her close. Lucy, however, couldn't go back to sleep. She lay with her head on his shoulder, looking out the window, watching the snow blow by.

If the storm was this bad as far away from Hogwarts as they were, she hated to think of how bad it was at the castle itself. At least it hadn't arrived until late at night, she supposed. She was tense, waiting for the words she'd come to expect along with the storms. She'd never heard them in the house, but the last time they'd weathered a storm here had been before she'd started hearing Bella's voice.

She waited the rest of the night for that voice to sound. It never came. Lucy hoped the storm hadn't affected anyone at the castle. She hoped they at least had gotten a full nights rest, undisturbed by storms and waking nightmares. The storm raged on for most of the day, but somehow, it wasn't as frightening in the light. Still, she had an uneasy feeling that never quite left her anymore.

* * *

"Oh, will you just ask her? I'm sure she'll have an opinion on it. Besides you should at least stop by and visit for awhile. She is your cousin after all."

Lucy chuckled to herself. She wasn't sure what was going outside her door but Hermione sounded pretty insistent that Ginny ask Lucy's opinion over something.

She waited patiently for the knock to come before she went to answer it. "Ron!" She was shocked to see him standing next to Hermione rather than the expected Ginny.

The freshly minted Auror was looking down, toeing at the ground, his hands in his pockets. "Hey, Lucy."

"Come on in," Lucy said, standing back and ushering them in. "So, Ron, what brings you to Hogwarts?"

"I, uh, it's my turn to patrol the school." Hermione led her boyfriend over to the couches and Lucy went to her kitchen area to grab a few snacks for them.

"Ask her!" she heard Hermione hiss at Ron.

"Alright" he hissed back, "Lucy, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," she said, "What is it?" She was concerned that it might be something important with the way Hermione had been insisting Ron talk to her but if there was something she could do to help him she would.

"Um, well, I've been getting these letters," he said as Lucy came over to where the couple was sitting, taking her own seat and setting down the chocolates she'd brought over.

Hermione sighed, frustrated that he wasn't outlining the problem quick enough for her. "What Ronald is _trying_ to say is we, Harry, Ron and I have been positively bombarded with letters asking for us to allow ourselves to be interviewed and for exclusive rights for one of these wizards to write our biographies. Rita Skeeter has been particularly persistent."

"Ah. Rita's very…dedicated to her job I've heard, but I don't understand what you think I can do about it. I don't have any influence with writers and journalists."

"Lucy," Ron said, "You _teach_ about books. You spend a lot of time _reading_ books."

"We thought," Hermione continued, "you might have an idea about what we should do. Maybe give us some advice."

"Oh, right. Well, um, I guess I'd say the three of you should talk about it. This is all just my opinion of course but I think if one of you does it you should all do it. I mean let's face it Harry's the main character of the story here but if it hadn't been for the two of you there probably wouldn't have been much of a story to tell. It's the three of you together that make up the story and you each had your own part to play in it. These should all be decisions you make together.

"If you decide to have an official biography written at some point, whether it be now or years from now, I'd recommend interviewing the potential authors. Whoever writes your story is going to be asking questions and probing into places you'd probably rather they not poke their noses into, so it's important that you mesh well with the writer and that you trust them. Read some of their other work, see if you like their style, that's important too I think.

"As for Rita…she'll do what she's going to do and I doubt your approval or disapproval will factor into it much. There will be unofficial biographies written and though it'll be annoying I'm sure I don't know that there's much you can do to prevent it other than releasing an official version where all the facts are straight and true."

Ron stared at her, "How do you _know_ all that?"

Lucy shrugged, self-conscious, "I read. A lot. It's an important story though and I do think it should be told someday, and told properly. I don't know that right now is the time to do it though. People will want and ending, and there really hasn't been an ending yet. They'll want to know what kind of lives you went on to lead and at the moment you're just starting out. You haven't…led a life yet."

Snorting, Ron said, "I think we've had enough adventures for five lives."

Lucy grinned, "Adventures maybe, but people want to know that you went on to live happily ever after. I'm not sure you can say you've done that less then a year after the final battle."

"When do you think we'll have that ending for people to have?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, I can't tell you that. Not really. You're the only one who will know when you're there. But I'd say if that's the only thing keeping you from doing this, then it's not a good enough reason. Readers might want that ending but you can't please all the readers. I think you've got to do it when the time is right for all three of you."


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Waiting sucked. Normally Lucy liked to think of herself as a patient person, but she was getting tired of waiting for Dinah to come around. She understood why her friend was mad, but really, ignoring her wasn't going to solve anything.

Looking up from her desk after her sixth year class the following Friday she found Agrona Huntingdon standing in front of her, shifting from side to side. "Yes, Miss Huntingdon? Can I help you?"

"Well, I don't know. Most professors don't like to know too much about their students' private lives…"

The girl looked positively miserable. She'd probably only been brave enough to approach Lucy since she was feeling nearly as miserable. "Now that's not…actually it probably is true, but it shouldn't be that way. You should all have an adult you can come to for advice, help, or just to talk. I know when I was a student here I often wished I could talk to my Mum. Would you like to come to my office and we can talk about whatever you want?"

"Yes, I think I'd like that," the girl said, quietly following Lucy to her office.

Lucy sat in her chair behind the desk and gestured for Agrona to take a seat in one of the chairs on the other side, "Now, what seems to be the problem?"

Agrona sniffled and dragged the sleeve of her robe over her eyes, "Derwent's not speaking to me and I don't know why! I think one of those Death Eater type Slytherins said something to him about not being a real Slytherin if he dates a half-blood like me. He won't talk to me, he's been avoiding me all week, and he won't even _look _at me! I don't know if we're broken up or not or even what could have gone wrong!"

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you. I haven't seen anything unusual as far as Derwent is concerned but that doesn't mean anything. After all I'm not an ever present observer in my students' lives. If you hadn't already said he was avoiding you I'd encourage you to talk to him but that's going to be impossible if he won't come near you. The only thing I can think to tell you right now is to try and wait it out and don't jump to conclusions. Maybe something's happened that he's not quite ready to talk about yet and he doesn't want to feel like he has to tell you so he's staying away to avoid an argument or something.

"I know it's hard but there's probably not much to do but wait until he comes to you. Waiting sucks but sometimes that's all you can do. It's hard and aggravating but you can't make someone talk to you who doesn't want to. If Derwent says something to me I'll do my best to help but that's about all I can offer you at the moment, other than being here to listen that is. He's seemed very happy with you and I can't imagine he'll keep you in the dark for too long. Just keep doing what you normally would have done and I'm sure he'll come around eventually."

Agrona nodded, "Thank you. That's…well, it's not exactly a solution but like you said waiting is probably all I can do." The girl stood and walked out of Lucy's office after thanking her again.

If nothing else she was good at giving out advice she should be using herself. Earlier she'd been contemplating confronting Dinah about what was going on but as Agrona had so aptly reminded her you can't force someone to talk to you if they don't want to. Besides, like she'd told her student, perhaps Dinah had something she wasn't ready to talk about yet and hounding her about it wouldn't fix anything. Probably only make things worse and Lucy didn't want to do that.

* * *

Saturday night everything had been coated in a fresh layer of snow, making everything look pristine and pure. Lucy sat up in bed and glanced at Sirius. The clock had recently struck ten but they'd been up quite late and probably needed the sleep.

"Sirius?" she said quietly, stroking the hair off his face. She wanted to go out and play, but not alone.

"Mmm," he grunted, forehead wrinkling in annoyance. Ever since she'd known him Sirius had not been an early riser. Not that ten o'clock was early, no. He just didn't want to wake up.

"Wake up," she pleaded with him.

"No. I'm still asleep," he insisted, rolling over and covering his head with the blanket.

"You are not," Lucy said, taking her pillow and lightly hitting him over the head with it, "Now get up please."

"Why?" he asked, grabbing her pillow with one of his hands and taking it underneath the blanket with him.

"It's snowed and I want to play," Lucy grinned.

That got him to uncover and roll over, looking at her with a certain glint in his eyes. "Well, why didn't you say so sooner?"

"Not that kind of play, you dirty old man!" she laughed, smacking him. "I meant I want to…take our friends out for a run. Stretch our legs and all that."

"Oh. Well, for that I'm definitely still sleeping," he rolled back over and once again covered his head.

"Sirius!" she screeched. Glancing at Dora, she transfigured herself into her fox animagus.

Burrowing under the covers she made her way over to where Sirius lay. Her cold, wet nose touched his bare back making him jump out of bed, falling on the floor because he hadn't managed to get his feet out of the blankets quick enough.

"Okay! Okay! We'll go," he laughed from the floor. Dora watched silently as Lucy scrambled out of the room and down the stairs. She jumped up into the front window to watch the light snowfall while waiting for Sirius to get dressed and open the front door.

When he finally came downstairs she ran around his feet, much like Dora did to Severus. Sirius looked down at her and grinned, "Watch it. If you trip me we'll never get outside."

She waited at the door while he grabbed his winter robes and dashed out the door the minute she could fit through the opening. She headed out around the outside of town, towards Hogwarts. Lucy knew she had speed on her side and was a fair way out of town before Snuffles caught up to her. From experience she knew he had waited until he was out of sight of the few houses nearby theirs to transform.

Lucy might have been fast but Snuffles had a clear advantage in the length of his stride. She looked over at him as he matched her pace so they ran next to each other. Darting through the trees in the forest bordering Hogwarts they soon emerged into an empty field near the lake.

At the edge of the forest Sirius stood protectively over Lucy. Brushing her tail over his chest, she picked her way out into the middle of the snowy field. When she reached the middle, she turned back in time to see Sirius running her down.

She ducked but he still managed to get his nose under her and roll her around in the snow for a few minutes before she managed to get away. They took turns chasing each other, destroying the pristine snow in the field. Sirius darted into the woods and Lucy made to go after him when a movement caught her eye and she stopped to look.

She stared, picking up one foot, almost as if she was pointing, her tail twitching. Walking down the path, towards the lake were the teenage forms of Dinah and Severus. They were holding hands and looking very comfortable with each other. Her ears pricked forward when she heard Severus ask a question of Dinah. The two slowly turned to face the field, their faces became strained and uncomfortable when they spotted her and realized who she was.

Lucy felt a movement off to her left and saw the professors' eyes shift towards the woods. One of her ears shifted to better listen to the movement of Sirius. Part of her wanted to look over and see what he was doing but she couldn't shift her eyes away from her friend and colleague. She'd just decided to go over to them, when she heard Dinah say, "Let's go!" and saw her turn away and rush off, pulling Severus behind her.

A gentle nudging on her shoulder had her turning to face Sirius, still in his dog form. His eyes looked sad; sad for her. Sighing, she felt her ears and tail drop, and headed back towards the woods. She no longer felt like playing in the snow. She wanted to go home, curl up in bed and be miserable. Obviously Dinah wanted nothing to do with her, couldn't even stand to look at her in her less recognizable animal form.

She ran home, Snuffles keeping pace with her; the return trip far less enjoyable than the initial one had been. Outside their home Lucy sat, waiting for Sirius to make his way to the house and open the door. This morning, in her eagerness, she hadn't bothered to dress; he'd at least pulled on a winter robe to walk through town in.

The door opened and Lucy rushed inside, heading up to the bedroom and transforming back into her human self. She pulled on a clean set of robes and curled up under the blankets. Bed was a good place to be when you were feeling this upset. It was a place she'd been visiting frequently these past couple weeks and someplace she hadn't had to seek out since the Battle of Hogwarts. As the distance from Sirius's death had grown she'd found the need to seek her bed less and less, but it'd still been there and now it was back with a vengeance.

Dora jumped on the bed and curled up close to her. Lucy reached out a hand to pet her friend. The bed dipped behind her where Sirius sat on it, "Lu?"

"She can't even stand to look at me," she whispered.

Lucy heard Sirius sigh before he lay close behind her, "I was standing right there. They saw me. It could very well have been me they were running from."

"No," Lucy shook her head, "Well, maybe, but you don't have to work with them. You don't see the glances they shoot your way when they think you aren't looking. They don't actively avoid you, even though your classes and rooms are close by each other. You don't spend your free time in your room because you don't know what else to do and you don't want them to feel like they have to hide away."

"Lucy, that's not your problem. You shouldn't have to hide away because you don't want them too. If they don't want to be around you, it's their loss. They'll be missing out on a pretty incredible person if you ask me. Besides Severus Snape might do well to remember he wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you."

"I don't think that's something he's particularly thrilled about. And I didn't do anything. There was nothing specific, nothing I could replicate. It was a freak bit of magic."

"Still," Sirius insisted, "Severus should be grateful."

Lucy rolled over and grinned, "You called him Severus."

"Yeah, well…" He was clearly uncomfortable with the line the conversation had taken. "It makes you happy and I have to grow up sometime."

She hugged him and snuggled close, "Don't grow up too much. I kind of like you how you are…mostly."


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

"Professor! Professor!" A student yelled, rushing into Lucy's office hours after lunch on Friday.

Lucy looked up from her grading to see Jania standing at her desk, breathing heavily from running up to her. Laughing she asked, "What is it? Voldemort tearing up the school?"

"Oh, um, no I—I didn't mean to alarm you…"

"It's okay Jania. I was just joking around. Now, really, what's got you so excited?"

"He's asked me out! He wants us to spend Valentines at Madam Puddifoot's! I _never_ thought he'd get up the courage to do it. I mean we haven't had many conversations and he's not really talkative, but he did it! Oh! I've liked him _forever_ and now we're finally going out on a date!"

Lucy chuckled. At thirteen Jania couldn't possibly have liked her mysterious date forever but it made her happy for the girl. "And just who is it that asked you out?"

Jania rolled her eyes as if Lucy should have figured that part out already. In truth she had a pretty good idea about who it was but she wanted her young student to say it. "Tad Smyth, Professor! Honestly, I thought you'd figured that out by now! So," she said, glancing down at Lucy's engagement ring, "are you and your fiancé going to Madam Puddifoot's? I hear it's really romantic."

She bit her lip and turned away for a moment, trying not to laugh again. "No, no we won't be going there. They have very good desserts there but it's more a place for the younger crowd. It's…very pink, very over the top, which is wonderful when you're thirteen, but when you're twenty-six its, um…don't let me stop you from going though. Madam Puddifoot's is very popular with the students. I'm not really sure what Sirius and I will be doing, but I doubt we'll be intruding on the students' enjoyment of the sweets shop."

"Oh," the girl's face looked disappointed.

"You will have a wonderful time and you'll be grateful that there aren't any professors around. Trust me. Sirius and I will probably be a boring, old couple and spend the day at home."

"How did you…" now Jania was beginning to look uncomfortable, "how did you meet your fiancé? At school?"

"Um, no. Sirius…he's a few years older than me. He was out of school by the time I entered. We, uh, met about three years ago…through mutual friends."

Jania seemed to perk up, "That's nice. I was just kinda wondering 'cause I thought maybe if you met him at school and it took this long for him to ask you to marry him then maybe Tad and I would work out eventually. I _really_ like him but I know it's not realistic to believe we'll be together forever."

Lucy smiled, "Oh, I don't know about that. I mean logic would tell you that Sirius and I shouldn't be together but miracles can happen and love doesn't much care about logic and reason."

* * *

By Monday evening Lucy had decided to give Dinah until after Valentine's Day to talk to her or she was going to confront her herself.

She was taking a sip from a rare glass of wine she'd been drinking while reading by the fire when someone knocked on her door. _Who on Earth could that be?_ She hadn't had visitors, except for Sirius, since Dinah had stopped talking to her.

Sighing, she set the glass back on the table and marked her place. She got up and opened the door. Dinah stood there, in her sixteen-year-old body; her eyes closed, face bright red and turned away. She practically yelled, "I know you probably don't want to see or talk to me right now but I found this book and I was hoping you might be able to look at it and give me some of your interpretations. It's really important and if you can and you're willing to help please find me when you're done and let me know what you think, okay? Sorry, thanks!"

She reached out and took the book Dinah must have been referring to, and before she could respond in any way, Dinah had taken off down the hall.

Lucy stood silently for a few moments with the door open. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened there. She finally looked down at the book she'd taken and closed her door. She made her way back to the couch and sat down, stretching out her legs so Dora could sit on her. "What do you make of that Dora?"

The cat looked at her and pawed at the book in her lap.

"Be careful. It looks old." She stroked the cover, not really seeing the title. Dinah thought she didn't want to see her? Why would she think that? Oh, sure, Dinah _had_ hit Sirius, but really he'd deserved it at the time.

Lucy sighed again. _She wants me to interpret this book?_ She hoped Dinah knew her interpretations would be just that. She couldn't pick out the truth or intentions behind it without talking to the author and judging by the cover he was bound to be long dead.

_Where Does The Good Go?_ The title didn't sound familiar at all. The book was very short though so it was entirely possible she'd simply passed over it all the times she'd spent perusing the shelves of Hogwarts' library. After reading the title her gaze naturally went on to look at the author's name. Raymond Scrump…that sounded familiar.

She shooed Dora off her lap and set the book on top of the one she'd been reading earlier, getting up to look over her shelves. There wasn't anything by that author in her living room; she'd have to check the shelves in the bedroom. If it wasn't there she might have to go look in her office. She sometimes thought she had way too many books, especially in times like this when she couldn't find what she was looking for.

"There it is!" she said, using her wand to bring the book down from the highest shelf. _The Squib Did It_ was the title of the other book written by Raymond Scrump. As far as she knew it was a semi-autobiographical fiction. The book was mostly a mystery, a crime having been committed and the squib in question being accused of it. It wasn't a well known or particularly well regarded story but she had stumbled upon it at some point and had enjoyed it enough to keep it around.

Changing and settling herself in bed she quickly turned to the back of the book to read the "about the author" section. Despite her belief that knowing the author's background could help the reader better understand the story, she hadn't bothered to even look at this section of the book. It was the only book of his she had and while she'd enjoyed it, she hadn't been interested enough to look for more by him. It was just as well though since she soon discovered the only other book he'd written was sitting out in her front room.

According to the book Scrump was indeed a squib. He had come from a family comprised mostly of Slytherins who were fascinated by the Dark Arts. Scrump was one of those unfortunate people who was not taken care of by his family past the age required by law. He'd tried to make his way in the wizarding world by writing but, according to the book, he'd been completely ostracized due to his status as a squib that eventually joined the Muggle world, becoming a well known author. The book, which was apparently published _after_ Scrump had left wizarding society, failed to mention the name he'd taken as a Muggle nor did it list any of the books written by him either.

* * *

The next morning Lucy decided to have breakfast in her rooms, so that she could begin reading the book Dinah had dropped off the previous night until she was forced to leave for her office hours. The first tale she read held some interest for her since the girl in the story heard her dead stepmother's voice, but the entire tale was so far from the things Lucy had experienced that she didn't think too deeply about it, intending to go back later and go through it more thoroughly.

The second tale seemed to be a symbolic tale about horcruxes and not a very interesting one at that. The third piece was interesting but she wasn't sure what she was supposed to make of it. The final four stories seemed to be either tediously boring or too gruesome for Lucy to even think about finishing.

Dinah wanted her interpretations. Okay, fine, she could do that. However, Lucy thought, it would have been easier to do if she'd been given some background information. The second tale wasn't that hard to guess at but as for the others…Was there a certain story to be interpreted? In what context was she looking at these? She couldn't give Dinah what she was looking for without answers to these, and other, questions. And for that she'd need to talk to Dinah.


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Lucy looked across the table at Sirius after they'd finished dinner in her rooms, Wednesday evening. She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again before she spoke, "I think I'm going to go to the library for a bit. If you don't mind."

"I can come with you," Sirius offered, looking concerned.

She knew he looked like that because she almost never said she was going to another area of the school when he was there but this was important and it was best done as soon as possible. "No, no," she quickly said, "that's okay. I think it's best if you don't come…Dinah sort of…thrust this book at me the other day and ran off before I could say anything. I know she sometimes spends her evenings in the library looking things up and…I think I need to go find her."

Sirius smiled, "Well, then go find her. I'll stay here. Maybe she's done being mad at you."

"Maybe," she said, picking up the book and kissing Sirius before slipping out the door.

She probably should have told him about what Dinah had said about Lucy being mad at _her_ but she'd known that would have led to a long discussion and she really wanted to try and help her friend if she could, even if it meant putting off some much needed time with Sirius.

Combing through the library Lucy eventually found her old…or rather young, friend sitting at one of the tables, hunched over a rather large book. Not wanting to frighten her, Lucy tapped Dinah on the shoulder, "Dinah?"

The younger woman jumped and turned around, startled for a moment, and looked up at Lucy, who was holding the fairy tale book she had given her the day before last. "Oh, um... hi."

Dinah looked nervous. Lucy felt the same way, "Um, can…can I sit down?" She told herself she needed to breathe. If this had been Tonks and they'd had a fight, Lucy would probably have done something silly to break the ice or vise versa. But this wasn't Tonks, this was Dinah, and Lucy wasn't quite sure how to go about making up with her friend.

"Oh!" Dinah exclaimed, pushing a nearby chair back with her foot and gesturing to it with a large wave of her arms, "Of course! Please sit down!"

Lucy smiled. Dinah's reaction made her think that Sirius just might have been right and Dinah had stopped being mad at her. "So," she said sitting. She placed the book on the table and began tracing its title with her finger, an idle, nervous gesture. "You wanted me to interpret this?"

Dinah just stared at her for a moment. "Um, yeah... I just thought you might have an idea about it," Dinah watched the book instead of looking at Lucy. "I hope I'm not bugging you or something."

She giggled. This was rather like dealing with most of her sixth years. Of course, technically she supposed that was exactly what Dinah was. A sixth year. "Dinah, you're not bugging me. In fact I've been spending most of my time outside of class reading or grading. I seem to be occupying a rather large gap in the social workings of the school. Not really old enough to talk with most of the professors, though some do try and I'm not a student so I really shouldn't be hanging out with them all the time. It can be rather lonesome, but it's not something I've never experienced before." She thought it wise not to mention spending time with Sirius as one of the activities she engaged in.

"Oh. So you're not busy, then."

"No, no. But…I'm not really sure what you wanted me to interpret. I mean I read them and everything but you didn't mention anything in particular you wanted me to look for. There's a whole host of ways I can interpret these stories. It sort of depends on the context…"

"Oh," Dinah sighed, realizing that her friend was right. "I'm sorry, that was really stupid of me, wasn't it? I'm sorry, I know you're probably still mad at me and I didn't mean to waste your time. Here, I'll show you what I was looking at," she reached for the book.

She held on to the book firmly for a minute. She'd been trying to avoid the subject, but now it seemed like she'd have to bring it up. "I'm not mad at you. I thought you were mad at me. I mean, maybe I was a little mad at first, but that's understandable isn't it? I don't know. I was more confused than anything. Then…then he told me…"

"You... you're not mad at me? I... I'm not mad at you, either. I mean, I just wanted to give you time to deal with what happened because I thought you needed that. I mean, I hit your boyfriend. I sort of expected you to be mad at me; that's why I was waiting for you to come over but when you didn't I thought... you hated me." Dinah appeared to be blinking back tears.

"I'm not mad at you," Lucy whispered. "I appreciate you wanting to give me time though. We talked about it. We dealt with it. It's over. I thought you needed time to cool down and then you kept running away from me…"

"I was giving you time," Dinah swiped at her eyes and smiled a little. "I guess we were both being pretty stupid, huh?"

Lucy grinned, blushing, "Yeah, I guess we were. Now," she said, pushing the book so it was between them, "what where you thinking about these?"

Dinah smiled and opened the cover of the book. "I read the first three," she said, pointing to them in the table of contents. "I didn't really get to the last four because the third one really struck me. I guess, first off I wondered if you knew anything about the author. You know lots of authors, right?"

"Not personally," Lucy grinned. It was nice to be able to kid around with Dinah again. She hoped they'd eventually reach a point where Sirius would be able to apologize for his behavior or at least a point where they could be in the same room, but she thought that was probably a long ways off. "But yes, I am familiar with a lot of authors. This author I wasn't too knowledgeable on. His name sounded familiar but I had to go look him up." She reached into the bag she'd brought with her and pulled out her copy of _The Squib Did It_. She flipped to the back and the "about the author" section.

"He was a squib?" Dinah asked, looking surprised as she looked at that part of the book.

"Mmm," Lucy nodded, "It seems so. I think it'd be interesting if we could find out the name he used as a Muggle and how his life was after he left our world but that probably wouldn't add much to the stories here. I read through all of them and the first three are probably the best, unless you like really gory fairy tales. The second one struck me as a tale about horcruxes, but other than that…well actually I was hoping I could get a copy of the first one at some point so I could look at it more in depth. It seemed to be one of the lighter pieces and it had a good moral to it."

"I liked the first one, too!" Dinah exclaimed, grinning, "But I wasn't quite sure why the first one referenced the third one. I guess we'll get to that later," she looked back at the about the author section. "So he was a squib born into a Slytherin family and that's why he wrote fairy tales about the dark arts, probably. You know, I bet he faced a lot of the same issues that Muggle-born Slytherins have to face. But it must have been worse in the 1700s."

"I imagine so. The witch hunts can't have been long over, they might have even still been going on. The squib issue can be hard to deal with, especially for pure blood families. I mean, at least if one of your parents is Muggle-born than you have a chance joining a society where you can be relatively normal, but pure bloods just don't have any experience with Muggles mostly and no one to introduce that to their squib children. Either way it must be hard to be a part of a world that you can't truly belong to…I imagine a family full of Slytherins would only exacerbate the problem," she bit her lip, worried that Dinah would take the last comment the wrong way. She'd been thinking of the Blacks when she'd been talking about Slytherin families but she was afraid to bring that up now that they were on speaking terms again.

"Ah, I see," she ran her finger across the about the author page absently. "You're thinking of Sirius's family then."

"Um, yeah. They had issues with anyone that wasn't in Slytherin so I imagine a squib would have been so much worse. Um, Dinah about that…" she hesitated. Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to talk about that subject here, in the library. "Actually, you know, we should probably leave that until we aren't sitting in the library with students all around us…"

"Yeah, I guess so. I don't know how much there is to say at this point, anyway. I guess you two dealt with it however you had to."

"Maybe not, but there were things he told me, things I mentioned that I don't think even he realized about the whole thing…I just…I think you deserve to know about them. At least at some point. Now isn't the right time though. Um, back to the stories I guess," Lucy said, staring pointedly at the books in front of them, her cheeks flushed.

"Um, yeah, let's," Dinah agreed, flushing a bit herself as she skimmed the about the author section again. "So after he couldn't make it as an author in the wizarding world he wrote Muggle stories, huh? You're right, I wish we knew what he changed his name to. It says he changed it but it doesn't say to what. But he was a successful Muggle writer, so maybe... wait, I think I know somebody that might be able to help!"

"Help what? Oh!"

Dinah turned at the new voice to see that Severus had come up behind them. He was looking at Lucy with a surprised expression. Apparently he hadn't expected her to be there. She herself was rather surprised to see Severus there. She'd assumed if he hadn't been there all this time he'd probably had something else to do.

He stared at Dinah for a moment, frowning, and then looked back at Lucy, his posture slightly stiff and his voice flat. "So I see you were willing to help interpret for us then."

"You don't' have to be so formal," Dinah smiled and shook her head. "Lucy and I have patched things up."

"Oh... I see," he slumped down in the chair on the other side of Dinah, his uneasy gaze shifting from her to Lucy and then back again. "That's a good thing... right?"

Lucy nodded, "Yes, it is. We decided we were both stupid. Have you looked at these?" She shoved the book towards Severus, trying to act normal. She was sure she wasn't succeeding.

"No, but Dinah told me about them," he said, shooting a curious raised eyebrow at her and then staring at the about the author section. "A squib born to a family of Slytherins, huh? I feel bad for him."

"Yeah, that's unfortunate, but I'm sure it happens," Dinah agreed. "Lucy realized that the second story was about Horcruxes, too," she turned to Lucy. "I wasn't aware you knew what those were, but I guess being so close with Harry, Ron, and Hermione you would. That was the only one that was easily interpretable. What I wanted to know was... do you think there's any reason to believe these stories have some basis in reality? Or is he just making stuff up?"

"Well," Lucy said, flipping through the fairy tale book, while Severus looked through her mystery book, "I think all stories have _some_ basis in reality, even if it is very small. Whether or not Scrump had these experiences himself or only heard of them from others I can't say."

Dinah sighed, "That's what I kind of thought. But there must be some way you can get hints, right? Like through his style of writing and stuff? Is there a way to identify which parts he identified with most... or something? I'm sorry, I probably sound like an idiot. It's this body. My, um... brain is kind of that of an adolescent's, too, if you hadn't noticed," she sighed and stared at the table.

"Um, yeah. At this point in the year though I'm used to dealing with sixth years," she grinned, "Actually though, we can use his style to make assumptions. Obviously we'll never be completely sure of ourselves without any doubts but assumptions aren't bad things. Sometimes, even if they're wrong, they can lead us someplace the author never thought of themselves. For instance when he writes '_Eventually, the young woman recognized the boy as someone from her past. Someone she had known through her dead sister, long long ago_' we see a continuing emphasis on the sister. He spends a lot of time talking about the ghost like creature that was the prince's former self. I'd guess this could be something he either spent a great deal of thought on or he saw a similar creature himself."

"Yes!" Dinah exclaimed, "That's just the kind of literature interpretation I expected from you! It's great!"

Lucy blushed, hiding her face from them so they didn't see her blush intensify, "Thanks, but I think you could have come up with it on your own eventually."

"Not in this body, and not so well-articulated," Dinah said, somewhat glum.

"This book was clearly based on reality," Severus spoke up suddenly, drawing both Dinah and Lucy's gazes over to him. He looked at Lucy; "Doesn't that mean that the author _likes_ writing based on his experiences?"

She stared at Severus in his sixteen year old body, her eyebrows furrowing in thought, "Normally I would say yes. In this case I'd say most likely. It's hard to make a definite conclusion with only two books having been written by the author and only one of these is clearly grounded in reality. Though I have strong suspicions both of them are."

Dinah nodded, thinking as well; "Also, the fact that he was essentially a Slytherin squib probably means he had a lot of time to really think about the nature of evil and the things that happen to people. The, um...well, the mindset of Muggle-born Slytherins that I seem to be getting from my surveys is a strong desire to find their place in both of the worlds that they have been thrust into, and a lot of thinking about things and trying to understand. I bet he was much the same."

"Probably. Like I said earlier it has to be extremely hard to be part of a world you can't participate in. It makes no mention of his family being pureblood or not but I'd guess they were. Slytherins tend to be so anyway. And, again generally, they don't tend to be very forgiving. There are exceptions of course," she said, hoping she hadn't offended either of them.

"Hm. Clearly," was all that Severus said, looking more distracted than offended.

Dinah just shrugged. "It all makes sense, really. Lucy, if I was able to find you more of the author's work, do you think you could interpret more easily?"

Lucy nodded, "It would help to notice patterns and we could probably be more confident about some of our presumptions. But it might be hard to do. Scrump only published these two books as a wizard and we don't know what name he used as a Muggle…"

"Well, there's where I think I might know someone that could help," Dinah said, looking conspicuous with both Severus and Lucy's curious gazes on her. "You see, I...I have this friend in the Muggle world, Rosa Banks. She's a historian and a linguist and she knows pretty much anything you could ask her about things written in the past. If Scrump became as popular in the Muggle world as that book says he did she should be able to look at these books and match his writing style and use of language with that of the Muggle books. She could probably tell us who he became."

"Dinah, you can't show your Muggle friend these books!" Severus protested.

"I can if I tell her that I'm a witch," Dinah murmured.

"Dinah!" Severus nearly shouted, standing from his chair and slamming his hand on the table, drawing stares from the nearby students. He flushed and sat back down.

Lucy had been noticing over the last weeks how insecure Severus was. That probably accounted for how he fell in so easily with the Death Eater kids. Perhaps even why he'd been an easy target for teasing. She knew better than to mention that though. Besides it wasn't likely to do anything but embarrass him more. "Do you really think that's the best idea Dinah?" she asked, concerned. "I mean with the Statute of Secrecy and everything…"

"You yourself know how inefficient the Ministry is," Dinah said. "As long as there is no kind of hubbub or anything they won't know about it. They monitor underage magic but they don't monitor every witch and wizard and every person they perform magic in front of. It would be too difficult. I've noticed it in my surveys. You'd be surprised at the sheer number of people Muggle-borns are able to tell without Ministry knowledge. As long as it's done quietly, it can be done easily."

"And what makes you think your infernal Muggle friend won't cause a hubbub when you shatter her...what do you call it...'paradigm' about the world she lives in?" Severus demanded, still looking vehemently opposed to the idea.

Lucy's eyes shifted back and forth between the couple. Dinah did have a point and Lucy, herself, had technically broken the law. She had her misgivings about it but she wouldn't be the first one to cast stones. "Um, I'm sure Rosa is very nice and not at all infernal, Severus," she quietly said.

He snorted. "You would think so. You two are both the same. Nice, idealistic. I'm telling you, Muggles are all infernal. They find out about magic and they either worship it like freaks or condemn it and go on witch-hunts. The International Statute of Secrecy was put into effect for a _reason_!"

"Severus, she can help us. You know how closely that story ties to... well, you know," Dinah murmured. "Rosa is very nice and she's also open-minded. Can't you just give her a chance? I was hoping you would come with me when I told her."

"Come with you!" Severus exclaimed; "Are you mad? I don't associate with Muggles! I haven't even decided yet if I'm going to let you go through with this inane plan of yours!"

"_Let_ me?" Dinah shouted, standing from the table and fixing him with a glare. "Oh, I'm sorry..."

Lucy wasn't sure what she was apologizing for but it was starting to get a bit heated and she began inching her book away from Severus.

Severus bit his lip and looked away. "No, I'm sorry. I just...don't think you're thinking this through. You don't know how she will react. You may think you have an idea, but you really don't _know_..."

"Um," she said, pulling the book firmly into her lap, "I know the statute was put in place for a reason and it was a good reason, but there are already plenty of Muggles aware of our existence. At the same time," she turned to Dinah, "You may be relatively sure how Rosa will react but much like our assumptions about Scrump you can't know until you…well until you know."

Dinah sighed, "Look, I know that. But I still think it's worth it to try. If you're that worried about how she'll react then that's all the more reason for you to come with me, Severus. Besides, I've...told Muggles before, and it went just fine."

Severus scowled. "Ah. Yes._ Him_, then. You're going to use that against me, are you?"

"I'm not trying to; I just want you to realize that all Muggles aren't as horrible as you think they are!"

Lucy was beginning to wonder if she could leave without them noticing. Her words didn't seem to be helping them think rationally and she was now uncomfortable. She hated watching people fight. Her hand inched down for her bag and she slipped the book inside, hoisting it on to her shoulder.

"Oh! Lucy," Dinah said, whirling around, "you don't have to go. Severus is just being Severus. Don't worry; I'll eventually get him to agree with me."

"Oh, so I'm not allowed to try to change your mind about something but you're allowed to try to change mine?" Severus challenged.

"Essentially," Dinah replied.

"Um, it's okay," Lucy said, sheepishly, "Just another hang up from my childhood I suppose. Um…I can stay if you want." She glanced around, noting there were still some students trying to study so it couldn't have been that late yet.

"Can I borrow that other book of yours, please?" Dinah asked. "I want to read it to see if I notice anything. If you want you can keep the book of fairy tales until I have to go show it to Rosa. We're going to go weekend after next."

"And apparently it's decided," Severus groaned, folding his arms and glaring at the table.

"Oh, sure," she pulled the book back out of her bag, "I haven't looked at it for years so I won't miss it. If you're sure you don't mind I'd like to borrow the fairy tales from you. At least so I can copy the first one. There's just something about it…"

"Sure, being a professor still I've got it checked out for the remainder of the year," she smiled. "The little things like that and being allowed in the restricted section are all that's left to remind me I was an adult once, I feel like sometimes." She sighed; "I'm glad we're friends again. It's been...hard for me and Severus, being stuck in these bodies and having nobody to really talk to but each other. And we're both stuck in the same predicament so there's only so much we can deal with on our own, you know..."

Lucy nodded. She seemed to be doing that a lot tonight, "I can imagine. It's been hard for me too. I'm sure no where near as much as it was for you but still…You know I never got a chance to tell you before…at Slughorn's party. I…I heard her again."

"The voice of Bellatrix Lestrange?" Severus's head shot back up from the table to fix Lucy with a pointed stare.

"Yes," Lucy said, shifting in her seat. He might be in the body of a sixteen year old but Severus Snape still knew how to stare at a person like he was the dreaded Potions Professor she knew him as. "I don't generally hear voices in my head and hearing hers is worrying enough. If I started hearing others I'd probably have run straight to Dumbledore."

"Lucy, I was reading something in the library the other day about something called 'voice ghosts'. It was only briefly mentioned in a book from the mysteries section, but apparently there have been instances in the past where people have heard the voices of others who were supposed to be dead," Dinah said. "I don't know much about it as there wasn't a lot of information, but that first story in the fairy tales seems to be a little similar as well. And that night...with the dark storm...a lot of other things were happening when the lights went out. Things I probably shouldn't tell you about without permission of Dumbledore and the Aurors but...I wonder if it's all connected."

Voice ghosts? Did that mean…? It had to. She'd really begun to worry, though she hadn't said anything to anyone. Severus and Dinah had been the only ones she'd told about the voice anyway and she hadn't been able to talk to them…Lucy looked into Dinah's eyes, grinning, "I'm not crazy."

Dinah couldn't help but laugh and even Severus looked mildly amused; "Well, I wouldn't think so."

Lucy shocked herself and probably Dinah too, when she spontaneously hugged her, "Dinah, really, you have no idea. I was honestly beginning to wonder." She caught Severus's eye and smiled, hoping his adolescent brain had understood her meaning.

He gave her a small nod and slight smile, acknowledging his understanding.

Dinah smiled and hugged Lucy back, "Don't worry about it. Believe me, I know how infuriating this whole dark storms and mysterious happenings stuff can be," they broke the hug and she grinned back up at Lucy. "But, maybe now that we're all helping each other we'll be able to figure it out more easily."

"Hopefully," Lucy agreed, "Well, it's getting late. I should probably go…I can walk you to your rooms if you want. I mean I know you can do it yourselves but I thought maybe my presence would help…"

It was Dinah's turn to shock Lucy by hugging her again. "Yes!" she exclaimed after pulling away. "You have no idea how great that would be! Surely people will stare at us less then! Right, Severus?" she turned her excited look on her boyfriend, who instead was frowning.

"But... today is_ Wednesday_, isn't it?" he asked.

Lucy grinned, but she was sure it looked uneasy again, "Yes, but its fine. He can wait and I'm actually doing well for now. I don't…I'll be okay." She wasn't sure how much she should explain about how she was feeling more and more able to be without him by her side constantly. The worry and the ache she'd felt in those early days of teaching were gone. She did still get nervous as her time away from him came to its peak but maybe some of that was due to her and Dinah not speaking for so long.

"I take it that means he's not wandering the halls again, like before," Severus said, and the shrugged and stood. "Okay, then. That would be appreciated."

"No, he's not wondering the halls. Severus?" she said, hesitatingly, "He shouldn't have done what he did. I can't apologize for him and I doubt it would matter much if I did but…_I'm_ sorry. I didn't know. If I had…"

"Mm," Severus grumbled, "You had nothing to do with it. I have no problem with you. I never have," he finally finished.

Lucy grinned, more at ease this time, "Now, don't lie to me Severus Snape." She stood and began walking with the two of them out of the library, "I know very well you wanted nothing to do with me early in the year."

"I wanted nothing to do with your relationship with Black," Severus clarified with a slight scowl; "The two of you and your constant public displays of affection were rather infuriating, actually. To the me from the beginning of the year."

Dinah smiled. "Yes, my old stoic, snarky Severus who panicked when I barely tapped him on the arm. Those days seem...like forever ago."

"I didn't panic, you startled me," Severus insisted, flushing slightly.

Lucy giggled, "You'll have to excuse the us of the past. I think the things we _weren't _doing sort of intensified the things we were." She blushed and shrugged, "But that's neither here nor there. Which room do you want me to take us to?"

"We'll stay in my rooms tonight," Dinah said, and Severus smiled slightly.

"All right. No problem." She fleetingly wondered if Dinah's clothes were still unorganized. Not that she was going to ask in front of Severus. There was only one bed in Dinah's rooms and she doubted either one of them was sleeping on the couch. She knew what sixteen year old hormones were like. Heck, she knew what her twenty-six year old hormones were like. "You've got nothing to worry about tonight. He's staying in my rooms until he leaves which will probably be just before dawn. In case you were wondering."

"Sure," Dinah nodded as they arrived at her room and she opened the door with her key; "I guess we're being silly anyway. We haven't seen him any of the previous Wednesdays, either." She sighed once they were in and looked at her friend. "Thanks for the apology. Even though it's not the same as one from your fiancé I ...we...appreciate it." At Severus's slow nod she continued; "I'm glad to know that at least you...disapprove of what happened even if you still worked things out with...Sirius."

"Oh, he's going to make one. He's just got to work it up and then get the opportunity." She paused for a moment, knowing she probably shouldn't say what she was about to, "He probably won't appreciate me telling you this, and I know it doesn't make things better, but I think, in some ways…he was jealous of you."

Severus just stared at Lucy like she had lost her mind, and Dinah looked much the same.

Lucy shrugged, "Don't get me wrong he had a lot, but there was something you had that he didn't. Something he probably really needed. Well," she said, going back out into the hall, "Good night. I'll see you at breakfast."

"Um...yeah, good night," Dinah said and closed the door after Lucy.


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

When she got back to her room she found Sirius waiting in bed for her. She pulled on her favorite flannel pajamas and Sirius groaned. "What?" she asked, climbing into bed.

"I know what flannel pajamas mean," he said, putting his arm around her as she snuggled up to his side and put her head on his shoulder.

"They don't mean anything. They're warm, comfortable, and cute," she said, closing her eyes.

"You were gone a long time. I take it you two made up then?"

"Mmm."

"You seem more relaxed now," he observed, caressing her back, "I didn't realize you were that bothered by it."

Lucy snored softly.

Sirius chucked, "See I told you I knew what flannel pajamas mean."

* * *

Lucy entered the library the next day hoping to find Dinah and Severus there again. At a table near the entrance she saw a group of Slytherin students "studying". Derwent was among them. She knew some of the boys he was sitting with and they certainly were some that had a definite Death Eater bent to them. Apparently he and Agrona hadn't made up yet. If his association with those boys went on much longer she might try having a talk with Severus and Derwent as well.

It didn't take her much longer to find Severus. She'd wandered farther into the library and eventually found Severus standing in front of the same table that they had left yesterday, his face flushed with anger and frustration, shouting; "No! No! No! Useless!" and shaking an open book over his head. Lucy just stared at the table. Dare she believe that Severus Snape was actually standing there in the middle of the library with a table piled with two giant stacks... of romance novels?

"Um, Severus?" she asked, peeking over the stacks of books, "What…what are you doing?" This was utterly bizarre. If he wanted romance novels she could have let him borrow some. Of course asking her for them couldn't be any less embarrassing than going through the library and finding them. The upside to the library was the novels Hogwarts kept weren't nearly as…detailed as the ones she had.

"These books are absolutely _useless_ as research materials!" He declared, pointing at one of the piles. "Here I am looking for the perfect Valentine's Day gift to give to Dinah and all these stupid teenage tomes can come up with is flowers and chocolates? Flowers are so generic and Dinah said she didn't think that I would want chocolates so that must mean she doesn't want them either, right? Oh, okay, and one of them suggested a necklace but I already gave her a necklace!

"And _these_!" Severus's finger shifted to the second pile, a look of utter contempt and loathing on his flushed face; "_This_ pile of abominations that I retrieved from the restricted section? They're supposed to be romance novels but they say _nothing_ about Valentine's Day! They're all about... _sex_! Sex, sex, and sex!" he exclaimed, shoving the first three books off of the pile in turn where they clattered down to the table.

He grabbed the fourth one and his face took on an even deeper loathing as he held it over his head; "Except for this one. This one actually manages to _mention _Valentine's Day and yet it's about... about... _Valentine's_ Sex!" he shouted, violently tossing the book aside where it smacked into one of the nearby shelves. His loud repetition of the word 'sex' was drawing stares from nearly all of the students in the library, but for once he didn't seem to notice their reactions.

Lucy bit her lip to keep from giggling and went to pick up the discarded book from the floor, "Well," she said, "generally the adult romance novels are about sex…some more so than others but still. If you wanted a decent romance, non-sex, Valentine's type novel why didn't you ask me? I'm sure I have one." She pulled out a chair and sat, angling it so she wasn't hidden behind the pile of books.

"No, it's hopeless," Severus clumped down in his chair and smacked his forehead onto the table, not moving anymore. "I have no idea what I'm doing," he muttered, his voice muffled by the table and curtains of greasy hair covering his face.

"Well," Lucy said, repeating herself, "um, presents. Okay, we can deal with that. Do you have any idea what _type_ of present you want to get her? You know, sweet, cute, romantic…sexy." She guessed the last was not the type of present he was looking for but it couldn't hurt to mention it. She knew Dinah was in a place where she was ready for that. Pushing Severus into that wasn't on her agenda though.

He finally lifted his head to look directly at her, and she thought she caught a trace of fear in his eyes; "No. No sexy. I... I mean it's not like I don't want to, it's just too risky. If I end up thinking of Lily and stopping in the middle a third time she might run away from me and never come back. I can't risk that. I need her. She can't leave."

She wasn't quite sure how to answer that one. "Um, I…I can understand that I suppose. I don't really know what to tell you about that without going out into some rather uncomfortable topics. What about flowers or chocolates. Oh! What about a stuffed animal?"

Severus grabbed a piece of parchment and started furiously jotting down her words, his nose almost pressed to the paper. "I said flowers and chocolates are generic, but a stuffed animal might do." He frowned. "Cute, sweet, or romantic, huh? Well, all of those things, any of those things, just give me something to work with here! She said not to worry about it and that she didn't want anything big. But that's one of those tricks you women play, isn't it? It means she really _does_ want something big," he looked very proud of his deduction as he fixed Lucy with a firm gaze. "If I've learned anything from you in the past few months it's that."

Lucy smiled. He looked so proud of himself. She imagined it was rather like watching your child realize they'd learned something all on their own for the first time. "Yes, most of the time. Something bigger might be jewelry. Rings probably wouldn't be wise, if you catch my drift." She thought a bit more before saying, "You _could_ do some sort of nice pajama. Maybe something silky with some lace, nothing too revealing. To me that's more on the romantic side than sexy. If you were going sexy I'd say lingerie of whatever type you…well, you know," she blushed.

Severus finished writing down what she'd said, looking like he was blushing a little himself. "She would look nice in lingerie, probably..." He shook his head, "Never mind. At any rate, what about jewelry that matches the snake necklace? You can find snake stuff easily. Slytherins know where to look. But it all has to be the same type of stuff, doesn't it? You women are always wearing matching accessories and all that other girly rot, right? But isn't it supposed to be like the same tone of metal or something or you can't wear it together? Dinah's babbled things like that on occasion."

"Yes, matching is good. We don't like looking like we got dressed in the dark. You could get her something to go with the snake necklace or a whole new set if you wanted. In my opinion the best gifts are ones that shows you noticed something about her, something she didn't have to come out and tell you. For instance I happen to know one of the things Sirius is getting me is a book. Now, I know I said before I kind of hate it when people by me books and normally that's true but it seems he noticed my current copy of _Fall From Grace_ is falling apart because I've read it so much. Part of that's because I've been using it for class. Still, it means a lot that he noticed I like the book and my copy is in need of replacement."

"Great, now I have to go spy in her rooms," Severus groaned, but wrote down 'New set, notice something, book,' on the parchment. He regarded his list, and then said quietly; "Is this stuff really going to make her happy? I want to maker her happy."

Lucy shrugged, "Some girls are materialistic and only want the stuff. I think as far as Dinah and I go it's not so much the stuff but the thought and effort you guys put into the gift that makes us happy. I think you just being you makes her happy."

Severus shook his head rapidly from side to side, looking stressed. "I don't know what about me could make her happy. It's just...I always thought about doing some Valentine's...thing for Lily and I never did. I don't think I knew what to do. I never let her know how I felt about her and then it was too late. I should have told her how much I loved her and I didn't. And now there's Dinah..." he trailed off, looking thoughtful even in his mildly distressed state.

She leaned back in her chair, thinking about that for a minute. "You loved Lily. Maybe that was part of the reason you couldn't figure out what to do. Love makes people crazy. Do you…" she really had no right to ask this, "Do you love Dinah?"

Severus just stared at her for what seemed like hours, his expression truly unreadable. Finally he let out an exasperated sigh, looking no less distressed than he had since she'd stumbled upon him. "I don't know! Stop asking so many questions and just tell me what I should _do_ here! Do you have any other ideas to add to this?" he gestured to the list.

"Sorry," Lucy apologized, "Um, how about," now she started to giggle, "food? Dinah seems to enjoy food."

That finally got Severus to laugh. "She does. She does enjoy food. I love that about her," he paused and frowned, probably realizing that he had used the word 'love'. He shrugged and added it to his list.

Lucy bit her lip, turning away again. Severus might not know but she was pretty sure he _did_ love Dinah. "You know this is not so much a physical gift but she'll probably love it just the same. You could willingly, and happily, go see Rosa with her. And keep an open mind about her too."

He sighed and shook his head; "About that. That's a lovely sentiment, but I can't...she just doesn't under_stand_. Muggles are...I know how Muggles are!"

"Severus, I think Dinah probably has a good idea about Muggles. What makes you think you know them any better than she does?"

"Never mind," he growled. "Well, I guess I'm stuck going there with her anyway, I might as well at least _try_ to be nice about it. That doesn't mean I'm not still suspicious. And if her friend does anything stupid I'm going to be the first one to perform _Obliviate_ and take both of us out of there!"

"Truthfully I'm a bit suspicious as well. I mean I trust Dinah knows her friends well but I'm not at all comfortable with her telling her friend. However, if you _Obliviate_ Rosa, Dinah is going to be pissed."

"All bridges will be crossed when we come to them," Severus said in a stubborn tone, gritting his teeth. He sighed; "Well, thank you for this I suppose. Now how am I supposed to decide which of these things to get her?"

Lucy shrugged, "I've really no idea. Is there something in particular that stands out to you? I actually haven't gotten Sirius anything but…well, never mind," she said, blushing.

Severus rolled his eyes. "I think I get the message," he shoved the Valentine's Sex book at her, "Here, you need this more than I do. Now I have to go think," he gathered up his parchment and stood from the chair and leaving.

Laughing, Lucy started putting the books back on the shelves they belonged to. Who'd have believed she could chase Severus Snape away with something as harmless as the mention of sex? Of course she had no need of the book he'd shoved in her face. Reading the back of it before she put it on the shelf she decided that she might just check that one out…just in case.


	38. Chapter 38

A/N: Thanks so much to the two of you who reviewed my last chapter (I would have replied to you directly but I could only do that to one of you so I figured it was just as easy to thank you both here) Whether or not you only read this for the chapter featuring Snape or not I still appreciate it. I don't expect to get tons of reviews but getting a few every so often is nice. So thanks again and I hope you keep reading/reviewing.

* * *

Chapter 38

Sirius jumped on top of her Lucy Sunday morning. "Time to get up! I've got plans for us!"

Lucy laughed and stretched, "You're never up this early. Should I be worried?"

"No! I've got plans and you're going to like them. Get dressed or I'm aparating us out of here and to our secret destination."

Getting out of bed she went to the closet and grabbed a dark pink set of robes. It was one of the few times she didn't mind being cheesy. "Where are we—"

"No," Sirius interrupted, "I'm not telling."

The second she'd finished dressing, he grabbed her hand. "Wait a minute. I want to—"

He disapparated.

"Make the bed," she finished, when they reached their destination. "Sirius? Where are—umph!" Lucy was cut off and she was tackled from behind.

"Let me see your hand!" shouted the newcomer in Lucy's ear.

"Tonks?"

"Of course! You're spending the day with us. Teddy's at Mum's and the men are going to cook," her old friend said dismissively, "Now let me see your hand!" She grabbed Lucy's left hand and closely inspected the ring she hadn't yet seen. "Oh, this is just gorgeous. Isn't it gorgeous dear?" She asked Remus, yanking the ring, and thus Lucy, over so he could inspect the jewelry.

Remus chuckled, "It's lovely, but I think you're about to dislocate Lucy's shoulder." He looked around his wife to his best friend, "So, is this what all the odd staring was about at Christmas?"

"Mmm. Yes, that and Lucy's insistence she had to sleep in another room for appearances sake."

Tonks rolled her eyes, "I don't think that was all of it. He only stared like that when she was holding Teddy. I think Padfoot is looking to have some puppies."

"Um, no. Not right now anyway. Maybe. Someday. In the future." Sirius said.

"We haven't really talked about that," Lucy said, "And it's not happening at least until after we're married."

Remus easily looped his arm around his wife and kissed her cheek, "Now, dear not everyone has to have children right away."

Lucy sighed. She always enjoyed being able to see the two of them easy and comfortable. She simply hadn't been around in the early parts of their relationship and she'd missed seeing that develop. Of course the other couple wasn't quite as demonstrative as she and Sirius were.

They followed the other couple into their front room where Tonks made a point of sitting on her husbands lap and playing with his hair. Lucy wasn't surprised when Remus grabbed Tonks's hand and kissed it before placing it firmly in her lap.

"So, have you picked a date yet?" Tonks asked.

Sirius snorted, "We just got engaged. Give us time."

"Well, I was just thinking. Lucy's always wanted a winter wedding you know."

"Really?" he said turning to her.

"Um, kind of but that was before I had a fiancé who had an opinion. We can talk about it. Later. I think there might be other things to worry about first."

Both Remus and Tonks stared at them.

"She found out about that uh, little incident, you know, in school with…" he glanced at Lucy, "Snape."

"Ah," Remus said.

"And now you're in trouble," Tonks said, a smug expression on her face.

"Not really," Sirius protested.

"A little," Lucy said at the same time.

"Why am I in trouble? I thought we worked it out?" Sirius looked confused.

"_We_ did. You still need to work it out with Dinah and Severus and to work it out with Dinah you probably just need to work it out with Severus. Maybe apologize. Explain about the parents thing."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Really? You really want me to do that?"

"Yes. When you do something wrong, you apologize. That's sort of the way it works. I would appreciate it and so would Dinah. This thing is making it awkward between us."

"Fine, if it'll make you happy."

"No, you can't just apologize to make me happy. It has to be sincere. I know you didn't mean…"

"I'll be as sincere as I can be, but don't expect me to run up to Hogwarts tomorrow and do it."

"I don't, but don't take forever about it either."

"I won't. Now, if you're finished with me I think it's time for Remus and I to go cook the meal."

* * *

Monday morning came far too early for Lucy's liking. More and more she seemed to be turning into someone who liked to sleep in. Of course, those times generally came when she'd been up most of the night and fairly active too.

During her first office hour that day she was seriously considering lying down on the couch when Dinah came in carrying a large bag and emptying its contents onto her desk. "So I hear that _you_ are responsible for all of this."

"Um, I am?" She wasn't really sure what Dinah was talking about.

"Just look at them," Dinah said, still grinning and gesturing to the objects. "I'm sure it'll come to you."

Lucy began sifting through the pile of stuff. Some flowers, a nighty, a book, some jewelry, candy, a lot of food… "Oh, he didn't, did he? He wasn't supposed to buy everything! I told him to think about which one you'd like best! I mean I probably could have helped him narrow it down but I think all the romance novels he'd read were freaking him out."

"Romance novels? You're kidding! Just to come up with gift ideas for me?"

She nodded, repressing a giggle, "Yes. I'm not sure he quite understood the concept of a romance novel before he started looking through them…The only he found that mentioned Valentine's Day in the restricted section and was more about sex than…well, I think what he wanted was more of a guide. I don't know, like I said I think he misunderstood what a romance novel was. Of course, right before he stomped out he shoved one at me and said I'd need it more than he did."

Dinah burst into laughter, pulling back the chair and sitting across from Lucy. When she finally stopped giggling she shook her head; "That boy is dedicated, I'll say that much. Oh, and don't worry, I'm not annoyed with you. I just thought it might amuse you to see the monster that you created."

"If I'd done my work well enough you'd have gotten some classy, yet slightly kinky, lingerie, but he vetoed the sexy theme." Even Sirius had gone the less obvious route. Must be something in the water.

Dinah sighed, looking a little disappointed with Lucy's words and fingering the purple alternative Severus had gotten her, "Yes, well... I like this, too..."

"It's gorgeous. He has good taste. I didn't mean there was anything wrong with it. Heck on the nights it's just me I wear something similar. Though it's usually cotton or flannel instead of silk or satin."

Dinah giggled; "He said you told him this was 'romantic'. You'd be surprised how much he kept invoking you when explaining why he got these things. 'Lucy said this', 'Lucy said that'... you have amazing influence."

Lucy grinned. She'd really had no idea he'd take her so literally…or tell Dinah about it for that matter. It was kind of cute in a way. "I bet that was romantic. To me the less revealing pajamas are romantic. It sort of says 'we're intimate but we don't have to have sex' or at least that how I interpret that type of gift."

Dinah nodded, "I like that idea. I think that's kind of where Severus and I are...probably forever, but I guess I can deal with that. When you really love somebody you'd be surprised what you can endure. But I guess I don't have to tell you that."

This conversation was quickly turning awkward, "Uh, no. Actually Severus told me, and I really am not sure why he did, but he told me he wants to but he's afraid of hurting you again."

Dinah smiled sadly. "No, I know. We both know it. That's why we're not doing it. We don't want to risk anything. It's fine. I'm surprised he told you, though. Then again, I think as an adolescent his insecurities and such make it harder for him to keep his mouth shut about things. _Much_ different from when he was an adult."

Lucy bit her lip before saying, "Well, please don't take this the wrong way but I'm kind of surprised those teenage hormones you two got haven't swept you right along past that point of no return yet."

She shrugged; "Maybe there are parts of us that are still adult. I'd like to think so. Either way, we've made it this far. I'm not trying to predict what will happen in the future, I'm just letting things take their own course. It's easier that way."

Lucy nodded, "That's probably best." She paused for a moment before barreling on, "Dinah, I'm sorry but I just feel really awkward brining up anything to do with Sirius around you. I know what he did was wrong but I can't go back and change the past. I don't expect you to forgive him or want to be around him or anything I just…I just thought you should know I guess."

Dinah stared at her friend, looking like she wasn't entirely sure what she was trying to say. She shook her head. "I'm confused. Is there something specific you wanted to say about Sirius? Because I didn't expect you to bring him up or anything, nor did I expect you to go back and change something... I'm sorry, I'm just not sure what you're getting at."

Lucy shook her head, "Sorry, I'm not entirely sure either. I'm really tired. We stayed at the Lupin's last night and I didn't come back until this morning."

"Oh. Right. The werewolf," Dinah said, sounding a bit negative.

"They're a great couple. Remus is pretty soft spoken most of the time and he tries so hard for people to like him. He taught here once you know. Harry and the Weasleys say he was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher they'd had. At least up until that point that is. I mean you know…Once people found out about his furry little problem the letters started coming in asking for his resignation. What's worse is he didn't expect anything different. It's just such a shame he's treated like that."

Dinah nodded, ""No, I understand. I didn't mean to sound bitter. I _know_ none of what happened could possibly be his fault. There are plenty of nice werewolves out there; people who try to fight their transformation instead of succumbing to it."

"Okay," Lucy looked away for a moment, "Is it weird that we haven't talked about kids? I mean it's just Tonks made a comment when we were there and…I don't know. She asked about the date too and we haven't talked about that either. He seemed surprised when Tonks said I'd always wanted a winter wedding. I don't know. Maybe I'm over thinking this."

Dinah had to laugh; "Oh, you wanted to talk about romantic stuff. Well, let's see if I can get my old-lady advice-giving style back. I think every couple goes about things differently. I think myself if I ever got married..." she bit her lip and turned away. "Um, anyway," she continued, shaking her head, "Well, I'd try to have kids quickly only because I'm – or well, I_ was_ thirty-eight and if I waited much longer there would be health risks and such. But you're young. I don't think there's any problem with waiting a year or two before thinking about such things. Gives you time to get used to each other before you bring more people into the mix."

Lucy grinned, "You're right I suppose. He just seemed very…careful of me last night. It was kind of like how we were around each other before. We sort of had this unspoken agreement to stick to minimal touching. Which was probably a good thing considering what happened when we kissed the first time. He wasn't not touching me, it just kind of felt like it did then." Lucy considered her words for a moment, "Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing I suppose. It made things kind of…tingly."

"There are benefits to all parts of a relationship," Dinah smiled. "Of course, you are both aware of little things called protection spells, I would think. Dylan positively _loved _them over Muggle options. And I still have no children," she laughed.

Lucy joined in her laughter, "Oh, yeah. We know _all_ about those spells. There's been a couple incidents where the spell has been forgotten but obviously it's not resulted in anything besides a little worry."

"Ah, so you're less cautions, then," Dinah grinned. "Might want to be careful in that case. But if you're that concerned about it I don't think you'll forget. Maybe Sirius is just trying to figure out what you think about the idea. As for the winter wedding, those are things you discuss together. Just because he was surprised doesn't mean he dislikes the idea...um, I mean I don't think so," she finished.

Lucy shrugged, picking up the snake stuffed animal sitting on her desk, "Maybe. I don't know. About the kids thing. He's got some major parental issues. I mean after you left…Hogsmeade House…he was telling me Severus was the kind of son his parents would have loved to have."

Dinah just stared at Lucy for a moment, "I see. Well... look, I hope I don't sound insensitive to this and I'm not trying to. I understand how Sirius might feel that way and it's legitimate, but...is that what you were saying Severus had that Sirius needed the other day?"

"Yeah. I know that doesn't really justify what he did but..." she shrugged. "I think somewhere deep down he wanted his parents to love him, like I wanted my father to love me. Severus was what they would have wanted in a son and Sirius must have been jealous of that. Again that doesn't make everything okay…"

Dinah shook her head; "No, it doesn't. I'm sorry. But Sirius should have thought more about the reality of such things before he started wanting things that didn't exist, even if his thoughts _were_ all subconscious." She snorted. "Okay, so maybe _Sirius_'s parents would have loved Severus but Severus's parents certainly didn't. Or, well maybe his mother might have tried but she was too busy in her desperate attempts to please that disgusting husband of hers. Battered woman syndrome and all that – Oh!" her hand came up to her mouth, "I really, _really_ shouldn't have told you that. Severus is not going to be happy."

Lucy stared at her friend. Her babbling really _had_ rubbed off on the other professor. "I…I don't know what to say. I'm sorry. I won't say anything. I wasn't trying to make it all seem okay. I just…I was just babbling again I guess."

"No, It's not really your _fault_, it's just the whole situation is so ridiculous. Sirius obviously knew nothing about Severus's family. It would have been no better than his and probably worse for him. I mean, I understand him wanting his parents' approval but," she shook her head. "He shouldn't have brought Severus into that. Severus's home life was just about the worst imaginable. I'm sorry. It really hurts just to think about."

"I get it. I think." She carefully placed the snake back on her desk with the rest of the stuff, "I don't mean to kick you out but my class should be starting soon. If you don't have a class you're welcome to stay if you want," she said, playing with her new necklace, sliding the Tudor Rose pendant back and forth.

"Yeah, I guess I should go. I have a class, too," Dinah muttered.

"Dinah?" Lucy said, as she led her friend to the door, "I'm not mad at you and you can come see me whenever you want."

"Yeah, thanks," Dinah smiled, "I'm not mad at you, either."

"I'm glad. See you later," she said, closing the door behind her friend.


	39. Chapter 39

A/N: Thanks for the review Kat! I like Dinah and Lucy's friendship too, but then I'm sure I'm biased. The dynamic between the couples is going to get more interesting soon and hopefully it's a good change :-) I like Remus and Tonks too. I think they're a good balance for Lucy and Sirius though we don't get to see much of them. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Chapter 39

Yanking on her Ravenclaw hat, Lucy left her gloves in her pocket, refusing to wear them and have to remove her ring, and rushed down to Severus's rooms. They hadn't made plans to sit together for this quidditch match but Lucy was hoping they wanted to again. She wanted to catch them before they left for the pitch so she didn't have to search the stands for them.

The dungeons seemed particularly cold and damp today, Lucy thought, shivering as she passed through the spot where she first heard Bellatrix Lestrange. She shook the thoughts out of her head as she reached the closed office door. This time she didn't hesitate to knock.

"Who's there?" a male voice, presumably Severus's, demanded. He sounded annoyed.

"Um, Lucy?" she responded, unsure if she should have come down here after all.

A bunch of girlish giggles came through the door. Either Dinah was in there too or Severus had a new girlfriend. She was pretty sure it was Dinah though, he didn't seem the type to go around romancing many girls at once. The door unlocked and Dinah called, "You can come in, Lucy."

She opened the door to be greeted by the sight of Dinah sitting on a rather red Severus's lap. Her arm was around his shoulders. She blushed a little before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a handkerchief, holding it out to Severus with her left hand, "Um, here. I don't think that's really your color."

Lucy heard Severus growl as he snatched the handkerchief, glared at Dinah, and wiped his lips.

"Um, sorry. Put it on this morning, didn't think," Dinah said, her gaze shifting to Lucy's hand. "No gloves this time? You could have used the necklace thing like before," she said, referring to the engagement ring.

"Nah. This time I've got this," she said pulling her Tudor Rose necklace out and showing it to Dinah. "One of the things he noticed," she grinned. "He had it custom made. I've recently gone from having minimal jewelry to an ample supply. It's getting a little ridiculous."

Dinah laughed. "You think you have that problem. Today I had to decide whether to wear the bracelet with the necklace or the bracelet with the earrings or toss aside formality and wear all of them and mix metals," she grinned and kissed Severus on the cheek to soften the scowl he was still wearing. "Ultimately, I went with the garnets. Oh, and your necklace is lovely by the way."

"Thanks," she felt her face go a little redder as her gaze slid to Severus, "Don't be embarrassed. After all you, ah, walked in on me and Sirius in a similar position before one of the Order meetings if you'll remember."

"How could I possibly forget?" he did not look pleased as he recalled the incident. "Now, I assume you're here because you want to go to the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game?"

"Gryfflepuff game," Dinah corrected. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Well, um, yes if you two want to go…what in the world is a Gryfflepuff?"

"Me," Dinah beamed. "I was in both houses, remember?"

Lucy laughed, "Oh right. A Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff. Got it. Did the two of you want to go then or should I leave you to…resume your previous activities?" Lucy knew if she'd been in Dinah's position she'd have had a hard decision on her hands…well, maybe not. Sirius would probably decide one way or the other.

Dinah frowned, taking time to think about her options. "We'll go, I think. I want to see who wins. You don't mind going with a couple of teenagers though, right?" She slid her hand into Severus's and gave Lucy a small smile. "It's just your job to take away points if anybody makes fun of us."

"I'll do my best, but you'll make my job easier if you go below the bleachers to snog. With any luck though you'll run into Agrona and Derwent down there." She hadn't seen the girl outside of class since she'd come to her office crying but she was hopeful the couple had patched things up by now.

"There will be no... snogging in public," Severus said through gritted teeth.

"Darn," Dinah laughed. "Agrona and Derwent? They haven't been talking much in class lately that I've noticed."

"Yeah, she came to me a couple weeks ago, crying. She's got no clue what's gone on but he just stopped talking to her. Never broke up with her or anything. Just stopped talking. She thinks maybe someone said something to him but she doesn't know…"

"He's been recently spending time with a group of Slytherins who hold Death Eater values in high esteem," Severus spoke up. "I don't know why or what any of them may have said about Miss Huntingdon, but I suspect it may be similar to Speasy and Yates's issue. It wouldn't surprise me if one of them suggested she was taking advantage of him; him being Muggle-born."

"I wondered if it was something like that. I saw him in the library that day I found you there with the romance novels," Lucy nodded, thinking more about Derwent then what she'd just said.

Severus gave a little groan when Lucy mentioned the romance novels, causing Dinah to crack a smile. Then he continued: "The only time pureblood or Death Eater bent Slytherins associate with Muggle-born Slytherins...or often half-blood Slytherins as well," he sighed, "is when they have something they want. Mr. Lympsham is highly skilled in my class. That's probably why they're using him. And mark my words, they _are_ using him."

Lucy sighed, "I wish he could see that. Of course I couldn't see that Nick was just using me at first so I suppose it's a part of growing up. I doubt saying anything to him would help…" she looked down at the floor, sad for the couple and the boy who only wanted friends. "Should we get going then? I know I'm incredibly early but I wanted to catch you before you left…"

"Sure, let's go," Dinah stood from the chair and walked over to a hook in the wall, grabbing her warm outer robes to put on over her Muggle dress.

"Here," Severus stood, grabbing a scarf and wrapping it around her neck with an affectionate gaze. "Don't forget one of these this time. It's colder today than it has been during the week," he kissed her, and then went to grab his own outer robes.

Dinah smiled and slipped her gloves on. "I have you to thank for half of this, you know," she said to Lucy.

Lucy laughed, "Really, now?"

She grinned. "The Valentine's escapade put us halfway into dating mode. Then we went the rest of the way ourselves," she gave Severus an indulgent smile and looped her arm into Severus's. "Shall we go?"

"If we don't want to be late, then yes," he led them to the door and opened it, gently dropping Dinah's arm when they exited into the hall.

They were mostly silent walking from the school down to the pitch. When they had climbed partway into the stands Lucy pointed out a rather dark, secluded corner. "That's a good spot there, in case you were wondering," she grinned.

"Enough!" Severus snarled, his face flushed and his head darting back and forth to the students around them, some of them staring a little but most of them wrapped up in quidditch. After a moment he sighed; "Do you think everyone knows?"

"We haven't done much in public, so I don't think they_ know_ know, but...well, I'm pretty sure they've all at least gotten the message that there is _something_ between us," Dinah answered.

Lucy sighed, wondering what it would have been like to be sixteen with Sirius. She laughed. They probably wouldn't have got on at all. She'd been pretty bookish then, not that she wasn't now but…well, it was different somehow. He probably wouldn't have looked twice at her. She'd been pretty invisible back then, or at least it'd felt that way sometimes. Or maybe, she thought, just maybe they would have repeatedly gotten in trouble for making out all the time. She grinned. Maybe she could talk him into sneaking in here and snogging a bit.

"I doubt anyone knows much more than they did before the youthening. It's just now they're witnessing the more…hormonal side of you," Lucy said, bringing her thoughts back to the younger couple.

"Which makes everything entirely more obvious," Dinah sighed as they settled into their seats. "Either way, nobody's said anything on that subject. It's more laughing at us because we look like children than anything."

"Mm," Severus agreed uneasily, ending up in-between Dinah and Lucy in the Hufflepuff stands, "We barely made it in time."

"Hey, you said you didn't care one iota about the Gryfflepuff game," Dinah teased, clapping as the team members were introduced and flew onto the pitch.

Lucy grinned, looking over at Dinah, "The Gryfflepuff games were always weird for me. On the one hand I had Tonks rooting for Hufflepuff and she was my friend but then I had cousins on the Gryffindor team…and my own house wasn't playing so…divided loyalties."

She nodded. "I can understand that. I was similar, except I reached the point where I didn't really care. Either one could win and please me. I guess that whole thing is why I never got extremely into Quidditch. Or any of the house rivalries for that matter."

"Mmm," Lucy responded, not really knowing what to say to that. "I think, in general, Muggle-borns aren't quite as into Quidditch as the rest of us. Not that it's an us and them kind of thing. That's not what I meant."

"I don't know if that's necessarily true in all cases, but I'd agree that it is in some," Dinah said. "There are a lot of other sports in the Muggle world that they come in knowing quite a bit about, so Quidditch is added to that but it doesn't replace it. I could have asked a question about that in my surveys."

"Surveys that will never be finished," Severus teased.

"Oh, hush!" she laughed and nudged him. "They will be, just not anytime...soon."

Lucy laughed, "Ahh, I know all about soon. It's another word for never. Students tried that with assignments early in the year. Mum said it when she was hoping I'd forget about something she wasn't keen on doing or explaining. Soon…"

Dinah laughed, too. "But I really do intend on finishing them. Yeah, though, soon is one of those famous last words, isn't it? Lucy? Are you okay?"

She shook herself out of her depressing thoughts, "Yeah, sorry. It just sort of sneaks up on you sometimes. You know?"

"Mm, yeah I think so," Dinah agreed; "Like the thing with the houses earlier. It was hard being divided between two houses and dealing with people's bitter feelings. I would sometimes dwell on my Hogwarts years and how hard they were, but," she smiled and threw her scarf over her and Severus's laps like she'd done before with the robes. "That doesn't bother me so much, anymore," she finished, moving to sit closer to him.

Lucy laughed, "Keep that up and everyone _will_ know. I'm glad it doesn't bother you now though. Kids can be cruel and the ones who were mean to you don't really matter now. I mean look at me and Nick. Thirteen years ago he was important…now he's just some brown-noser trying to move up in the Ministry. He doesn't matter to my life at all."

"Yeah," Dinah agreed. "I didn't get the most favorable impression of him when I met him at Slughorn's party."

"Oh, trust me. That _was_ a good impression. I barely kept Sirius from punching him in the face. Though truth be told, if he'd called me Lulu one more time I might have done it myself. Take his wife and child to America to be safe," Lucy muttered, "Yeah, way to care about others Nick."

"That is unfortunate, but the war would have reached those shores eventually, either way," Severus said, "There was not anywhere to hide or be safe. Even had he not participated in any fighting, just staying in Britain would have been a strong move. Shown that he was intelligent enough to realize that there was no place to hide."

"Exactly my point. Nick is an idiot. I mean I get wanting to be safe but even if I hadn't joined the Order I would have stayed. Not everyone could fight. That doesn't mean they were cowards. It just means they couldn't do it for one reason or another. Sorry I didn't mean to get all political on you," she said, clapping when Gryffindor scored.

Severus nodded his approval at the pitch. "It would be preferable if Gryffindor wins."

"What?" Dinah and Lucy both turned shocked glances on him and spoke at the same time.

He chuckled slightly. "Slytherin's chances are better in that case, especially with the current score standings. They have a remaining game with Hufflepuff but have already defeated Gryffindor. If Hufflepuff wins this game, a win against Slytherin in May will carry greater threat."

Lucy nodded, "Makes sense. Ginny's on Gryffindor so I'd prefer them to win but then Hufflepuff could use a win too…" Though she didn't say it out loud, Lucy thought it was understood that Hufflepuff wasn't really known for winning many Quidditch matches.

Dinah shrugged; "Well, like I said, either way is okay with me."

"Soo," Lucy said awkwardly into the sudden silence that fell on them, "Seen any fox around lately?"

Dinah laughed; "No, not since you. I've seen some snakes though. They like to sun themselves on warm days," she grinned.

"Mmm," Lucy said, leaning her head back and enjoying the sun herself, "I know how they feel. It's been so nice lately it's easy to forget about those storms…"

"Yeah...the last one was pretty mild. No dementors," Dinah agreed.

"It was hardly noticeable in Hogsmeade. No voices last time either."

"Good," Dinah paused. "Oh no, we forgot to mention that to Dumbledore!"

"Perhaps because we didn't ask Lucy if she _wanted_ that mentioned to Dumbledore," Severus said calmly, turning to look at Lucy. "Do you?"

Lucy looked around them, suddenly worried one of the students would over hear them. "I don't know," she shrugged, "Dumbledore knows about before but…" she turned to look back at Severus and Dinah, "The two of you are the only ones that know, but if you think it's important he knows, if it'll help you with whatever it is you're working on, then I suppose it's all right."

"It might help. Don't worry," Dinah smiled; "He's not going to think you're crazy either. We'll make sure of that."

"Thanks," she said, smiling back, "that's good to know."

* * *

"I got an owl yesterday," Sirius said, casually as he sent their empty dinner plates back down to the kitchen Wednesday.

"Oh?" Lucy said.

"Yeah. Some lawyer wants me to go out to the Lestrange mansion and help figure out what goes where or to who or whatever."

Lucy sat abruptly on the couch, the breath having gone out of her. "When?"

"Tomorrow and Friday. I probably wouldn't be back until Saturday morning…maybe you could make plans with Dinah or something."

Lucy shook her head, "No, that's okay. I'll be fine for one night I'm sure," she paused for a few moments, "The Lestrange's you said? Like Rodolphus and Bellatrix?"

"Yes. It was the family home but they lived there."

"Don't go," she begged him, tears filling her eyes.

"I'm coming back," he reassured her, his hand framing her face. He tried to memorize her features, her fear, and she was afraid, making him nervous that maybe he was lying.

"You don't know that. Don't go," she pleaded again.

"I have to. They asked me to help clean up the Lestrange estate. There's stuff in there that was Bella's, things that belong to the Black family. Andromeda and Narcissa are coming too, but most of that stuff will come to me. I have to go."

"No, you don't. Please."

His hands slid from her face down to her throat to better feel the pulse that was pounding there. "What is wrong? What's got you so frightened? There's nothing there. The Lestrange's are all dead and the Aurors have been through the house. Nothing's going to happen."

"I hear her," Lucy said, "I used to dream about her, she'd get in my head and I had trouble getting her out. Those weren't real. I know that. I've always known that. But now…I can be walking along, going about a perfectly normal day, or be teaching a class, even going to a meal and I _hear_ her. It's not in my head. I hear her just as plain as I hear you. _I killed Sirius Black_," Lucy mimicked Bellatrix's voice, "Please. Don't go."

"Lucy," he whispered, shifting to sit next to her and pulling her into his lap. "How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know," she said, clinging to him, "Ever since the Hufflepuff Ravenclaw game. That was the first time…it only happens during those storms, but please, you can't go to that house. You can't."

He sighed. Sirius didn't know whether to believe her or not. He didn't think Lucy would lie to him but hearing voices… "Lu, Bella's dead. She can't harm us."

"But…but you were dead."

"Not really. It felt like it but I wasn't really dead. If I had been I wouldn't be here now. You only hear her during the storms…there must be a connection then and the weather's been nice lately. I'm sure everything will be fine and if it's not Harry will be around this week. It's his turn to patrol Hogwarts. Dumbledore will be here too and you used to be an Auror. I'll be okay and so will you. Voices can't hurt us."

He heard her sniffle and felt her wipe her face on the shoulder of his robe. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," he said, stroking her face, "Absolutely. There's no reason that it shouldn't be. You'll be here teaching as usual. The only difference will be you'll stay here Friday. If I get back early I'll come get you. Okay?"

"Okay," she said, but he got the impression she didn't quite believe him.

Thanks for the review Kat! I like Dinah and Lucy's friendship too, but then I'm sure I'm biased. The dynamic between the couples is going to get more interesting soon and hopefully it's a good change :-) I like Remus and Tonks too. I think they're a good balance for Lucy and Sirius though we don't get to see much of them. Hope you enjoy this chapter!


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

_Voices can't hurt me. Voices can't hurt me._ That's what Lucy kept telling herself after dinner on Friday. A particularly violent storm had started around lunch time and she'd had a hard time making it through the rest of her classes and dinner.

_I killed Sirius Black._

It wasn't the first time she'd heard the voice that day and she couldn't take it much longer. She couldn't seem to breathe properly. Her heart wouldn't slow down and the tears had been streaming down her face since she'd closed the door to her rooms.

Bella spoke again. This time she decided to say something different.

_Let me do it. I'll take care of him. I'll kill him._

"No!" Lucy screamed, bolting out of her chair. She didn't know where to go, what to do. She didn't _know_ where the Lestrange mansion was. She couldn't get there. _Why_ couldn't she see? Wiping her eyes helped her to see clearly and she rushed to the door. Leaning against it, it took her a few minutes to pull it open

Rushing out of her room, Lucy didn't even notice she'd left her door wide open. She tried to find Dumbledore's office. She took several wrong turns, probably because she wasn't paying attention to where she was going nor could she see well. When she finally reached the gargoyle guarding the entrance, she put her hand on it to reassure herself she was there.

Lucy took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself. It didn't work and her heart only pounded harder.

_I'll kill him._

"No!" she gasped again, pounding on the gargoyle.

A Password. She needed a password. That was the only way to see Dumbledore. "Lemon pops," she said. The gargoyle didn't move. Why didn't it move? That was right. It _had _to be right. "Lemon pops," she said again, weaker this time. Why wasn't it moving? Why couldn't she get in?

She pounded harder on the gargoyle, resting her head against it as it refused to move or react in any way. Her hand red and feeling bruised, she slowed her pounding and slid to the floor. She sat there, curled up, her head on her knees, weeping quietly into her robes and rocking herself. Time seemed to stop and she wanted to stop too. Like before. But she had to fight, a small, almost non-existent part of her said. Had to fight until she knew for sure. And she didn't know yet. She didn't know.

"Excuse me," a quiet voice said, close to her head, "Are you all right?"

"No," she groaned, not lifting her head. She didn't recognize the voice. "She keeps talking to me."

"Lucy!" the girl gasped.

The girl must know her if she knew Lucy's name. She lifted her face and sniffled using her sleeve to wipe at her face again. "Dinah?" Her mind focused enough to recognize the young girl who was her friend and colleague.

"Lucy!" Dinah exclaimed again, putting her hands on Lucy's shoulders. "What happened? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

She had a hard time keeping her eyes on her friends face. A bad sign. "She _won't_ stop talking." Lucy had a feeling there were other questions to be answered but she couldn't seem to figure out the right words to say.

"Who won't stop talking?" Another, deeper voice demanded.

Her eyes jumped to him for a second before moving away. She'd recognized Severus. Don't look in his eyes. He can read your thoughts. She remembered that. She had to answer his question though. What was it again? Oh, right. The voice. "B-bella…Bellatrix. ' I'll kill him', she said."

She thought Dinah might have gasped at her mention of the name, but she wasn't sure. "Lucy. Lucy. It's just a voice," she said gently, "It hasn't hurt Sirius before, hast it?"

"But he's not _here_! She's saying different things now and he's not here! And that," she said, glaring at the uncooperative gargoyle, "won't let me see Dumbledore. He has to know. He has to warn Sirius."

"Dumbledore is not here," Severus said, and Dinah met his gaze.

"No," Lucy denied, "he has to be here. He has to explain…_why_ did her words change? Why is the storm so…? I don't…" she started gasping for air again, "I can't…think…"

"Lucy! Lucy, stop!" Dinah exclaimed.

"Lucy," Severus said, his voice quiet as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "We need to get you to your rooms. We'll address this there. But you shouldn't be out here in the halls right now."

"Oh. My rooms. Okay," she said, looking off to the side. Away from them. Away from the reality that was too frightening, too painful.

She could hear Severus speaking but she didn't pay attention. The first part wasn't directed at her anyway. "Lucy," when he said her name she listened, "you have to stand up. We have to go back to your rooms _now_."

"Yes, here, take my hand," Dinah offered her hand to her.

Lucy's gaze shifted to her friend's hand. It was small. Had she noticed that before? Slowly she reached out a hand, her right one, and placed it in Dinah's smaller one.

"Lucy, what happened to your hand?" Dinah asked, concerned.

She looked down at her hand, where it lay in Dinah's and turned back towards the gargoyle, "I couldn't get in…"

"Okay. Lucy, don't do that anymore, all right? We're here to help you now."

"Yes, we'll get you safely back to your rooms," Severus added.

She turned her gaze to Severus's face. It was younger than she remembered, more concerned. "Just to my rooms? Not…" She couldn't finish her thought. She hoped they weren't tricking her though. That taking her to her rooms didn't mean they were taking her back to the place. Her father had tricked her. He'd said he was taking her home.

"To your rooms only," he said firmly, as Dinah helped Lucy into a standing position.

She didn't feel steady but both Dinah and Severus stood on either side of her keeping her upright. A loud crash above their heads came at the same time as lightening struck. The noise made her involuntarily hunch down as her face lifted upwards to see where the noise had come from.

"Was that her?" she whispered. She knew Bellatrix was dead. She _knew _that, but being dead didn't seem to mean much these days.

"No," Dinah said. She seemed very certain of that. There was some more murmuring around her before her friends started walking her down the hall back towards her rooms. Lucy was somewhat surprised she recognized where she was going.

When they reached her rooms, Dinah and Severus stared at her open door. "I was in a hurry," she said, tears falling again, "I had to see Dumbledore. I didn't know what else to do…"

"It's okay," Dinah said softly, "Come on, let's go," she led Lucy into the room and Severus closed the door behind them. They led her to a chair near the entrance and gently pushed her into it. "Is that better?" Dinah asked.

"It's not as hard as the floor," Lucy said. She brought her knees back up and rested her chin on them, wrapping her arms around her legs. "I don't _like_ this. I don't like being like this." With her friends nearby it seemed easier to fight for reality. She didn't want to worry them.

Dinah nodded, "I know. But it's not your fault. It happens to the best of us and if I was hearing voices like you are I'm sure I wouldn't be very stable either. But we're safe here and nobody is going to get you or Sirius."

Lucy shook her head. Didn't she know they weren't safe _anywhere_? Bellatrix would find them. She had a way. "He's not _here_," she said again. "I asked him not to go. I _told _him. I don't think he believed me…" she hid her face back in her arms. Trying not to see, not to hear…not to think.

She heard Severus sigh, "Where did he go?"

"The Lestrange mansion," she mumbled into her lap. "I don't know where it is." She lifted her face and looked up at Severus. "Severus, please, don't make me think anymore. It hurts too much and it's scary and if I can just go to that place where I don't have to think…it'll be better. Please."

"No," Severus said, his voice firm. "That does not benefit anyone. Lucy, I need you to listen to me. There is no one at the Lestrange mansion. It is abandoned. Both Rodolphus and Bellatrix are dead. No one is going to hurt... Sirius."

"No," she shook her head, "I can't. It's too much. I _can't_ do this again. I…I can't!" The tears slowly stopped and she stared. Stared past Dinah and Severus, past everything and through everything. She stopped really seeing what was around her, but best of all she stopped hurting. She was almost…numb.

* * *

Sirius struggled into the Main Entrance at Hogwarts. He was snow covered, tired and frozen, but he didn't much care. The storm raging around the school was terrible and Harry probably could have used some help but ever since he'd seen that doe, Lily's doe, and heard the voice, Snape's voice, saying Lucy was in trouble he only had one goal.

The storm had caused him to take longer getting there than he'd have liked. He'd been blown around easily and frequently, but inside he ran through the empty halls trying to get to one of the few things in his life that mattered.

He tried the dungeons first. The message had been from Snape so Sirius went to the place he was most frequently. When he found the door locked, the only other place he could think to go was Lucy's rooms. Snape hadn't said _where_ in Hogwarts to go. If they weren't in Lucy's rooms he might try Dinah's. After that he wasn't sure.

He shoved Lucy's door open to be confronted by…two teenagers kneeling on the floor next to a chair, leaning on each other. He hadn't seen either of them since that day near the lake as Snuffles. Right now he could only feel grateful they were there for Lucy. "Luce?" he said to the room.

"In the chair," Severus murmured, not meeting Sirius's gaze directly but gesturing to Lucy.

He rushed around to the front of the chair. The sight that greeted him was one, he assumed, that had been described to him by the Weasleys. He knelt down in front of Lucy, her face blank, an empty glass in her hand. "Lucy?" he said, afraid to touch her. When she didn't respond he looked to the two teens. "What…what happened?"

"I don't know," Dinah whispered, "She just stopped responding. She said she heard Bellatrix. She's been hearing her for awhile now, but I never imagined..." she trailed off and shook her head.

"She told me," he muttered, "and I didn't listen. She _begged_ me not to go and I didn't listen." He growled and turned back to Lucy, grabbing her face, "Lucy! Listen to me. Tonks was there. She heard the message. She told me if I let anything happen to you she was going to kick my ass. So, you've got to be okay," he said, putting his forehead against hers, "You've got to be okay."

He felt her tremble beneath his hands as her head slowly began to shake. "No," she said, her eyes squeezing shut, "I can't do this again. It was _too_ hard before. I can't."

"But he's right there!" He heard Dinah yell, "Lucy, he's _not_ gone! Look at him!"

She just kept shaking her head, apparently not hearing Dinah's words. He did the only thing left he could think to do. One thing she'd always responded to. He kissed her.

It took a moment but he heard the glass break when she let go of it to wrap her arms around his neck, finally responding to his kiss.

When he went to pull back for a breath of air, if nothing else, she clutched him hard and whispered, "No."

He chuckled a bit, knowing it probably wasn't appropriate but unable to help himself. "I'm not going anywhere. I just needed to breathe a bit." He stood, picking her up, so that he could sit in the chair with her on his lap.

Sirius rocked and rubbed Lucy's back as she continued to cling to him and cried silently into his chest. "You're okay," he murmured, knowing she wasn't really listening right now, "We're okay." He turned his face to look at the younger version of Lucy's friend and the teen he'd once tormented. If it hadn't been for them…

"Thank you," he said, looking into Snape's eyes and probably surprising the both of them, "If you hadn't been here…well, thanks."

Severus nodded. "You're welcome. I gave her a potion that should help with the physical stress and Dinah provided her with water. The mental and emotional stress we needed you for."

He sighed, "I knew what she was like before. I mean Molly and Arthur told me, but I didn't…" he shook his head. He couldn't imagine how they'd dealt with Lucy the first time. It had torn at him to see her like that for a moment. How did they handle that for _months_? "Will the potion help her sleep? Or do you have something that will? She probably won't take it," he smiled, "she can be stubborn like that, but I think it might be a good idea to have it near by just in case."

"I can provide such a potion. Yes," Snape's voice was very calm.

Sirius nodded and looked down at Lucy, thinking she might already be sleeping. A sincere apology she'd said. Not one that she'd ordered him to give. Well, he'd already shocked the crap out of them once he might as well try it again. "Snape," he said, looking over at his nemesis, "I know I can be an ass and I'm reckless; I don't always think things through and I'm sure you won't believe me but…" the words tried to stick in his throat but he forced them out; they needed to be said, "I'm sorry for what I did…back when we were kids, you know, that thing…"

Snape seemed to be at a loss for words. Not that Sirius blamed him. He was more or less in the same place. The words had needed to be said, sure, but they were still strange and awkward between the two adversaries.

"I...understand..." Severus said, his gaze hesitant.

Dinah spoke up. "We appreciate that, but... it's sincere, isn't it?" She stood up and pulled Severus with her, then looked Sirius straight the eye. "I said before that you can't apologize for that thing and have it be sincere without also apologizing for the other ways in which you tortured him. You apologize for those too, right? I know boys will be boys but that only goes so far in explaining all of the unnecessary things you did. You know why what you did was wrong, right? You really understand that?" She stared at him for a moment, then turned to Severus. "I know I should probably keep my mouth shut but I can't anymore. Here, Severus, help him. It's not only one-sided. You regret everything from your past, don't you? Tell him."

Snape sighed, staring at Dinah, but after a moment he nodded and turned to Sirius. "There are things I should not have done as well, that I apologize for. Mocking you for your animagus status and for staying at Grimmauld Place in the Order years." He frowned. "Spying on you and your friends as a child. I realize now that I should not have followed you around like a..." his gaze shifted to Dinah; "how did you put it?"

"Psycho obsessed stalker," she stated.

_Well, _Sirius thought, grinning, _that was one way to describe Snape's behavior._ At least back then…he'd been very stalker-like.

He sighed again. "Psycho... obsessed... stalker. I also should not have used _Sectumsempra_ – dark magic – on your friend Potter during that confrontation after the O.W.L.s. However, I do believe that a well-placed _Expelliarmus_ or even _Petrificus Totalus_ or_ Stupefy_ spell would have been appropriate at that time, seeing as he was essentially trying to drown me," he glared a little and then shrugged. "For the rest, I am sorry."

Sirius nodded, "We both did things we shouldn't have. And…I'm sorry for the other stuff too." He looked down at the still trembling figure in his lap. She'd loosened her grip on him by the barest of margins, but he took it as a good sign. "Do you think she'll be okay?" he asked no one in particular, "She didn't tell me about the voice until Wednesday. It's not that I didn't believe her, Lucy's not one to lie just to get attention, but I assumed if she'd been hearing her and had apparently been fine…what changed this time?"

Dinah's face seemed to soften when she looked at him after that. "I think it's because you were gone and Bellatrix was apparently saying different words. She said 'I'll kill him' this time, I guess... Listen, I don't know if Lucy would want me to tell you, but there have been various points during the school year when she's been quite upset. Lonely, missing you, having little breakdowns. She seemed to be getting better though, until this..."

"I knew about a couple breakdowns…she seems to think by not telling me things it keeps me from worrying. If I'd just listened to her and not gone, we wouldn't be here. At the least we'd be in Hogsmeade and the storm is no where near as bad there. I'm not kidding; you can't even see the castle from outside the grounds."

"These dark storms are concentrated around the castle," Severus said in a low voice. "We have reason to believe a number of things are going on, and we're near certain that Lucy's hearing of Bellatrix is another of those things. I don't think you're actually in danger as she does, but I do believe that the voice is real. Oh, and..." his eyes drifted away, not meeting Sirius's gaze as he muttered the last part; "I accept your apology."

Sirius nodded in acknowledgment and sighed, "I wish she wouldn't worry so much. I mean I get why she does…partially anyway but…Her mum sort of abandoned her, like I did, and her father's never been much of a presence in her life. If there's anything I can do to help with whatever's going on let me know. I know I goofed off a lot in school but I'm not exactly a slouch. The Blacks do have a tendency to be rather powerful wizards."

"We don't know much yet," Severus said; "But if there_ is_ anything you can do we'll let you know." Snape turned to Dinah, "It might be useful for the three of us – you, Lucy, and myself, to meet with Dumbledore on Monday, if we want to include the Bellatrix situation in the discussion. Of course, if you wanted to join in, Black, I doubt the headmaster would protest, given Lucy's state," he finished, turning back to Sirius.

"We'll see," he said, adjusting Lucy in his lap. She'd quieted and he was pretty sure she'd fallen asleep. "I'm not taking her back to the house this weekend, we're staying here. Depending on how she is by Sunday night I'll probably stick around longer. Maybe as Snuffles. At least outside her rooms. So, if you want to come check on her over the weekend, we'll be here. Not that I'm kicking you out. Lu likes having you around. She missed you when you two weren't talking," he told Dinah.

Dinah smiled and nodded. "I know. I missed her, too. I wish we hadn't have been so silly about it. Well, I guess if you don't need either of us anymore we'll go back to the dungeons?"

Sirius nodded, "All right," he stood, holding the definitely sleeping Lucy.

"Good night, Sirius. Good night, Lucy," Dinah said. "We'll probably come sometime tomorrow to check on her like you said. I'm sure a good night's sleep will help."

"Mm, good night," Severus left his address non-specific and nodded at them.

Dinah and Severus were about halfway to the door when she turned around. "Sirius, wait."

He stopped in Lucy's doorway and turned to her with a questioning look in his gaze.

"I, um…I should also apologize. Not for hitting you," she clarified. "I think you definitely deserved that, at the time. But...well, when I said that you were 'no better than the rest of your disgusting family'?" she winced at the words and then sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I was wrong. It's not true."

Sirius shrugged, "I've never said I was perfect. I'm sure I've acted like I've thought that at times but I've never said it. You're lucky to not have met most of them. There are a few I'll claim as relations and Regulus might have turned out all right, but as for the rest of them…thanks. For the apology. I appreciate it."

Dinah smiled a little. "You're welcome. Good night," she smiled as they continued out of the room, closing the door behind them.


	41. Chapter 41

A/N: Thanks again for your review Kat! It's good to know I have at least one reader out there willing to review :) I'm glad you liked the last chapter. I was a little worried how that apology would be taken by the readers I'll admit. It was also a hard chapter to write because of Lucy's issues but I think it came out well and am happy to see you thought so too. I look forward to more reviews and hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)

* * *

Chapter 41

Lucy opened her eyes to find herself in her room at Hogwarts, Sirius lying next to her, watching her.

"Hi," he said, shoving some of her hair back off her face.

"Hi," she responded, her voice a bit raspy. "What time is it?"

"One. In the afternoon."

Lucy gasped and sat up in bed.

Sirius grabbed her and pulled her back down to him, "Its fine. You needed the rest, obviously. How are you?"

She sighed. She didn't want to think about last night but he just looked so worried. "Um, okay. Don't go. Stay close," she said, doing exactly what she asked of him and snuggling close to him. "I don't know why she gets to me like this."

"It's just something to do with these dark storms apparently. Maybe whatever the voice is picked you because it figured out you were most susceptible. Don't think about her. We can lay here all day if you want."

A faint knock had them both rolling out of bed sooner than they wanted. Lucy's eyes followed Sirius as he pulled out one of the spare robes he kept in her chest of drawers and pulled them on. She was apparently wearing her flannel pajamas. Well, they'd kept her warm anyway.

"It's probably Dinah and Snape. I told them they could stop by if they wanted," he told her as he led her to the door.

"Snape? You're calling him Snape and he _and_ Dinah are willingly coming here, knowing you're here? Did I miss something?"

"One or two things," he said, as he pulled open the door. "Afternoon," he greeted, standing back to allowed the teenage couple in.

"Good afternoon," Dinah replied with a cordial smile, and Severus nodded his greeting.

"How are you doing?" Severus asked, addressing Lucy.

"Okay," she said, embarrassed, "Sorry, about yesterday. I just…"

"No, that's fine," Dinah shook her head. "I'm just glad you're all right. How about your hand, is that doing okay?"

Lucy looked down at the hand Sirius was holding, "It's pretty bruised but it doesn't really hurt. Or maybe it's numb," she smiled a little.

"What did you do to it by the way?" Sirius asked.

"I, uh, was trying to get to Dumbledore and the gargoyle wouldn't get out of my way," she ducked her head and tried to lead them into the sitting room. "Did you want to sit? We could probably send down for some lunch or breakfast or something. It's a little late I know, but I'm sure they'll send something up."

"Sure, if you're up for it," Dinah smiled and Severus nodded.

Lucy grinned. She could always count on Dinah to be up for a meal. She waited until Sirius had closed the door before she led him to the couch and curled up next to him. She noticed him send down for food before she glanced at the window, "The storm seems to have eased up."

Severus nodded, settling into the chair Lucy remembered she had sat in yesterday. "Hopefully it clears by the end of the day."

"If it does, we can go out by the lake like we planned," Dinah said, perching on the arm as Severus smiled at her.

"That sounds nice," Lucy sighed, playing with Sirius's hand. She was _not_ going outside at all unless the storm was over. "Oh!" she said, looking down at the soup and salad that was sent up.

"Looks delicious! That's not what I – what we had for lunch. It was sandwiches. I guess they must be getting the dinner foods ready!" Dinah leapt from the chair, eyeing the soup. "Looks like minestrone."

"You just ate," Severus laughed; "Can you contain yourself?"

"Not really, but Lucy, I think we should eat this at the table, don't you?"

"Probably, yes. Most of us would probably like to eat like civilized people and not dogs."

Sirius hauled her up and growled in her ear, making her giggle. "I do have manners you know." He let go of Lucy and waved his wand at the food, which floated over to the table.

"Great!" Dinah jumped up and pulled Severus with her over to the table, sitting down and spooning a gigantic bowl of soup before taking some salad and a piece of bread.

Lucy scooted her chair over so she was close to Sirius, their thighs almost touching, grabbing his right hand with her left before serving them soup and salad.

"Um, Lucy?" Sirius said, leaning down close to her ear, "You're going to have to let go of my hand if you want me to eat."

"Sorry," she said, blushing and letting go of his hand.

"Snape? Mind handing me the bread?" Sirius asked.

Lucy felt her mouth drop open, especially when Severus nodded and slid the bread bowl over to her fiancé. They'd been civil to each other so far and that'd been unsettling enough but now they were _talking _to each other and _not_ trying to kill each other. "All right, what happened last night? I feel like I'm missing a large chunk of something here."

Dinah giggled and nodded, smothering her bread in dressing. "It seems that there were quite a few apologies being tossed back and forth last night. Not to mention thanks."

Lucy turned to Sirius, smiling, "Really?"

Sirius shrugged, looking embarrassed, "I think the general consensus is we were all idiots. Well, everyone except you," he said, sliding the bread over to Lucy.

"Thank you," she said, tears in her eyes. She was so proud of him right then; it was almost the same way she felt when a student came to understand a concept she'd been teaching them.

He shrugged again, "It needed to be said."

"I'm glad we were able to reach this point," Dinah said, smiling. "I didn't think it would happen, let alone this soon. But this is so great, all eating lunch together. I'm really, really happy we can do this."

"Well, we don't have to make a habit of it," Severus muttered. "I think once a week, maximum."

She laughed and shook her head; "Well, you know. Mr. Anti-social over here."

Lucy grinned, "Yes, I do. Not to completely change the subject but this has been bugging me," she turned to Sirius, "Is there a particular reason you chose my flannel pajamas? I would have been perfectly warm in regular pajamas."

"They seemed fitting. After all I know what flannel pajamas mean."

Lucy snickered, starting to feel more like her normal self and hoping Dinah and Severus didn't notice where her hand suddenly disappeared to as she reached beneath the table resting her hand just above his knee. "You fail to appreciate something about this style of flannel. There are buttons all down the front."

"Lucy!" Dinah exclaimed, unfortunately not missing where Lucy's hand had gone under the table, while Sirius's were still busy engaged with his food. "I thought you told me that even _you_ weren't that bold!"

"What?" Severus dropped his final spoonful of soup before eating it, shooting Dinah a confused look.

"You know, um..." Dinah muttered, flushing. "The Quidditch match at the beginning of the year and my, um...robe..." she nudged him with her elbow, gesturing with her eyes at Lucy. Her hands now back on the table busy pulling a piece of bread apart.

"I think I might be sick," Severus groaned, clutching his stomach and standing from the table before rushing to Lucy's bathroom.

She stared after Severus, "I think he _might_ be overreacting. My hand wasn't _quite_ where you thought it was."

"Close enough," Sirius muttered, taking a sip from some ice water he'd summoned.

Dinah chuckled a little, nervously. "I don't think he was quite overreacting so much. He hasn't been eating a lot lately. All that soup might have been a bit much for him."

"Did he have a big lunch?" Lucy asked, confused.

"No, no. He had a piece of toast and an apple. That was breakfast and lunch. Pretty much all he's been eating most days, really, since our trip to go see Rosa. Well, less so on Sunday. Eugene has been bothering both of us. This week he decided he was going to have us test a reversal potion and... well, let's just say it didn't work. That really set Severus off."

Sirius sighed, "Slughorn's easily taken in by pretty faces. I don't mean that offensively," he looked at Dinah, "You've met him. You know how he is. Eugene's got something about him that Slughorn wants to be connected with."

"But that's not the whole problem," Lucy argued, "Trying a potion and having it not work had to be upsetting. I know you both want to reverse the original one. Did something happen at Rosa's?" she asked, slipping her hand back underneath the table. Her hand back on Sirius's thigh. Having something to focus on helped, and touching Sirius helped more.

"No," she shook her head; "That's the strange thing. I thought we had a perfectly nice visit. He seemed pleasantly surprised that Rosa was different from how he thought Muggles would be."

"Hmmm. And he won't tell you? I assume you've asked about it." Lucy thought out loud, before her eye caught sight of Dora, whom she hadn't seen in a couple days, waiting patiently outside the bathroom door. "Well, maybe Dora will help," she said, grinning.

Dinah smiled; "Maybe. Yeah, I've asked what's wrong but you know Severus isn't exactly Mr. 'Let's Share Feelings.'" She shut up when the door opened and Severus exited, coming back into the kitchen with the cat on his heels. "You okay?" she asked.

"Fine," he grumbled, and gestured to Lucy and Sirius. "Are they done yet?"

She chuckled. "They were never doing much in the first place, turns out."

He shrugged and sat back down, pushing his bowl away from him and sipping a glass of water, while Dora jumped onto his lap and put her paws up on the table.

He wiggled a finger in front of her, but Lucy's moody cat just rubbed her head against it. He managed to scratch her behind the ears once before shooing her off of him. "Don't let me stop you," he gestured to Dinah's half-finished food; "Eat."

"Okay..." she took a bite of salad and turned to Lucy; "Oh, by the way, not to bring the subject back to the negative, but I wondered if you wanted to join Severus and I to talk to Dumbledore on Monday, if he's back. I think this Bellatrix issue needs to be brought to his attention."

"Um," Lucy was suddenly tense and incredibly nervous. She didn't want to think about Bella but that wouldn't really solve anything. She supposed talking to Dumbledore was what had to be done. Her eyes darted around the table, coming to rest on Sirius, who had gripped her left hand, bringing it back up on top of the table.

"I'll be there," Sirius assured her, putting his arm around and rubbing her back, " I'll come to the meeting if you want."

"But you're not supposed to be here then. I don't want you to get in trouble."

Sirius shook his head, "I'll go as Snuffles outside these rooms. I don't care about getting into trouble. If you need me. I'm here."

Lucy turned back to Dinah and sighed, "I suppose you're right. I don't _want_ to think about it or talk about it, but it has to be dealt with sometime I suppose. And since it's happening almost exclusively at the school the headmaster should be informed."

"That was what I thought," Dinah said softly. "Plus, the headmaster knowing can only help us, not hurt us."

"I agree," said Severus.

Sirius nodded, "Dumbledore will get to the bottom of it."

Lucy looked at Dinah, "Well, I suppose if those two are agreeing I have to do it."

Dinah laughed; "I know. Phenomenal, isn't it? I'll send an owl out to Dumbledore as soon as the weather looks good and then let you know what time the meeting is as soon as I hear."

Lucy yawned, already struggling to keep her eyes open. It seemed her body had been more strained than she thought. "Yes, that'll be good. I'll be here in my rooms most likely if you want to let me know when you hear."

Dinah finished the last of her salad and stood, pulling Severus up by the hand with her. "Okay, that sounds good. You look tired, so we should probably go. Thanks for having us, though. We'll have to do this again. Although apparently no more than once a week," she smiled at Severus.

Lucy grinned and stood, dragging Sirius up with her, "I'll mark my calendar. Don't be a stranger," she told her friend, hugging her before the other couple departed.

* * *

Dawn was just starting to appear when Lucy woke up the second time. Reaching down she grabbed the arm that had circled her waist during the night. He'd actually stayed in bed with her while she'd slept. He must have wanted to get up at some point, but he hadn't. He'd stayed and now he was asleep, while she was most definitely awake.

She rolled over, rubbing herself against him encouraging him to wake up.

He woke up with a groan. "Hey. You look better."

"Mmm. Feel better too," she kissed him. "Stay close though."

Sirius chuckled and rolled over. "Of course. I'll stay until you're ready for me to leave."

"What if Dinah and Severus stop by again today?" Lucy asked, momentarily concerned.

"Dinah'll knock. If we ignore it and they still come in…well, that'll be their problem."

A couple hours later they were interrupted by a large, black owl landing in the window. Lucy sat up, pulling the sheet with her. "It seems the meeting with Dumbledore's been set for six tomorrow morning," she said, shoving her hair back.

"Want me to come?"

Lucy nodded, "Please. I want you there." She thought she might also need him there.

"Dumbledore will know how to help," he said, reassuringly.

"I hope so."


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Early Monday morning Lucy stood outside the gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office. Beside her sat her guard dog. She'd tried to convince him the headmaster wouldn't mind him coming in human form, not this time, but he'd insisted he'd made a promise to the older man and he wasn't going to break it. Lucy decided not to push it.

Now she stood, waiting for Dinah and Severus to show up. Lucy was having to confront her memories of what had gone on last time she'd been in this place and couldn't seem to summon up the proper password to get past the gargoyle. She rubbed her hands together, feeling the ache in her right one. The swelling was gone but the hand was still sore and bruised.

She looked down when Snuffles nudged her and then down the hall when he turned his head that way. Dinah and Severus were coming their way, holding hands. Severus made a point of making eye contact with her. She wasn't sure but he might have been pointedly ignoring Sirius. She didn't mind really. Besides maybe he didn't like dogs.

"Good morning," Dinah smiled as they approached, reaching out and giving Snuffles a quick pat on the head.

Lucy giggled, as Snuffles reached his head up into Dinah's hand, "You might want to watch that. He's an attention hound."

She laughed; "Okay, I'll take note. Well, I guess we should just go up there." She faced the gargoyle and announced the password: "Lemon pie."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "_That's_ what it was. I couldn't think of it." Well, she hadn't been that far off had she?

Snuffles stood and nudged Dinah. His head inclined towards Lucy.

"I'm _fine_," she insisted. Lucy knew Sirius had an overprotective streak and it was certainly making itself known since her little break down.

"Don't worry, buddy, she seems okay to me," Dinah smiled and scratched Snuffles behind the ears.

Severus just rolled his eyes and led the two women and their guard dog up the stairs into the headmaster's office.

"Dinah. Severus. Lucy." Dumbledore, greeted them in turn upon their entry, and then his gaze shifted to Snuffles with a slight raise of an eyebrow. "Ah. And I see we have another... guest here today, do we not?" his questioning gaze shifted to Lucy.

She looked down at her puppy with an affectionate smile, "Yes, I told him he could come as himself, but he insisted he promised you the students wouldn't find him wandering the halls and Snuffles would be safer."

"Hmm," he murmured, looking slightly distracted. "You're looking well Severus."

Severus nodded. He took Dinah's hand again and pulled her over to a couple of chairs. "There have been some positive developments recently. But, unfortunately, those aren't what we need to talk to you about."

"No, of course not," Dumbledore nodded. "I myself have some disturbing news to convey, but I shall let those of you who came to me this morning begin first. Lucy...if I may ask, what has brought you and Sirius to this meeting? Have things been going well between you?"

"Um, everything's fine…between us. We…um, we're engaged…if you didn't know…" she wandered over to one of the empty chairs and sat in it. Sirius followed her and put his head in her lap, gazing up at her. He looked rather pathetic, "Dinah and Severus thought I should come to…um…"

Dinah spoke up, "Well, there was an incident this weekend, during the dark storm. We wanted to talk to you about something specific that led to it because I think it's not unrelated to all of the things Severus and I have been trying to solve. But this particular part of...whatever it is...has seemed to target Lucy."

Lucy flashed her friend a grateful smile and petted Snuffles idly, playing with his fur, "Yes. Bellatrix…she talks to me. Only during the dark storms and the farthest from Hogwarts I've been is the Three Broomsticks. I know hearing voices is bad but I'm not crazy. I do hear her and I'm not going to lie and say I don't. I'm not sure why she's picked me. I wish she hadn't. I want her to stop, to go away."

"This is an interesting development," Dumbledore nodded, looking concerned, "I, for one, do not believe you are crazy, Lucy. I am curious as to what Dinah and Severus's theories are. Assuming you have some?"

"Well..." Severus hesitated. "That is...if you think it would be all right to convey some of our darker theories to Lucy."

"I believe that under the circumstances it should be all right."

"Well, then. Seeing as the dark energy that has been creating these storms is clearly connected to the Dark Lord in some way, then...I think it might be possible that Bellatrix's devotion to him in her life has connected her to him in some way in death. But I don't quite know how."

Lucy gasped. She didn't know what she had expected them to say but she didn't think it was that. "So, you think she could…come back? Like he did? I don't…no. No. She can't do that."

"I do not believe that returning is a part of the equation," Dumbledore said, noting Lucy's fearful tone as his gaze took on a comforting look. "Lord Voldemort's essence or energy...whatever has been hovering around Hogwarts, is non-corporeal at this time and I feel that it will likely stay that way. There may be dangers in the form of dark storms but nothing that I feel will target any specific person. Unless..."

Dinah sighed. "There is a prophecy...a prophecy about me. We think it's coming true and that's why everything is happening right now. But I don't think Bellatrix is connected enough to Voldemort that she would come back even if he did. Which I hope he doesn't."

Lucy shook her head, "Me too. I guess the prophecy thing makes sense. I…I won't ask you to tell me about the prophecy if you don't want to. They can be personal. I know I don't always act like it but you know I used to be an Auror so if I can help…" She giggled when Sirius shoved his head further up her lap, "Okay, okay. I know you want more attention."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Dinah smiled at her. "You know Tommy, that boy that I've encountered? Well, I think he's something like the prince from that third tale, which is why we want to find out more about it. I think he's the missing good from Lord Voldemort. If so, then maybe...maybe even Bellatrix had some good in her."

"She knew how to love," Severus spoke up, "You have always said that was a redeeming quality," he said to Dumbledore.

"I have indeed," Dumbledore turned to shift his gaze from Dinah to Severus. "I also believe that there is some truth in a great many fairy tales. I am sure you own my annotated copy of _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_, Lucy."

She nodded, "Yes. I'm sure, like a lot of wizard children, it's one of the first things I can remember my Mum reading to me. I have a couple of copies. It's also one of the reasons I believe, and teach, that even in the most unbelievable story there's a grain of truth. And, like Severus, I believe Bellatrix knew how to love. Love is good," she shook her head and scratched under Snuffles's chin, "No matter how sick, twisted, and ugly love can become it's still good. People can do incredibly horrible things for love. If you know how to love though, there is something in you that is redeemable. That deserves life."

"That's a lovely way to put it, Lucy," Dinah smiled, and even Severus looked quite content with her explanation. "You do have a way with words sometimes."

Dumbledore sat at his desk and steepled his fingers, looking at them over his half-moon glasses, "Yes, she does. That is one of the reasons I chose to hire her. I think we need more people with Lucy's kind spirit and way with words to help sooth some of the hurts that have been inflicted upon us. I also happen to think she's stronger than she believes she is. As are you," he said, looking at Dinah.

"Thanks," Dinah said quietly. "So at the moment you don't believe that Bellatrix is a threat?"

"I do not. However, there still may be some connection we need to understand. I think, Lucy, that you would help us all the most by taking on that part of the task at hand. Since you are the only one that clearly hears Bellatrix's voice, perhaps you might be able to come up with a reason for that, along with what that voice might want or desire. Do you think you could do that for us?"

Lucy nodded slowly. How could she refuse when he'd just sung her praises more or less? Perhaps she should tell him…a nudge against her knee had her looking down at Snuffles. He nodded firmly and seemed to be encouraging her to tell Dumbledore the rest. "Okay," she whispered to him. "I think I can do that," she told the rest of the room, "Would it help if I told you I know what she says?" When Dumbledore nodded she took a deep breath before continuing, "Mostly she just says 'I killed Sirius Black'," she wasn't sure they could hear her but she was trying. Her heart was starting to pound and she truly did not want to do this but it had to be done. "Friday it changed. She started saying 'Let me do it. I'll kill him'."

"'Let me do it?' She said that first?" Severus asked, looking surprised.

"Yes," Lucy nodded, "She said something else too I think but I can't remember it."

"That sounds like something she said at Malfoy Manor at the beginning of the last school year," Severus murmured. "She was offering to kill Potter for the Dark Lord. She never seemed to understand his flaw, which I saw and took full advantage of to maintain both my loyalty to Dumbledore and the Dark Lord's trust in me. He had to destroy Potter on his own. It was the one thing he always insisted upon. She still felt, though, that her offer would please him, and did continue to offer it. What you heard may have been her speaking about killing Potter and speaking to the Dark Lord, not you. It may simply be an echo of things she has said in the past that you are hearing."

Lucy turned sharply to Severus, "Really? You think so? But then why choose me? I don't have a prophecy. I'm just a nobody. Do you think she's after Harry?" she clutched her hand to her chest. That thought was more tolerable but not any more acceptable to Lucy. "Why? Why would she do that? I don't understand."

"Miss Ketteridge," Dumbledore said, commanding her attention, "You may not have a prophecy but you are hardly a nobody. You are among the most accomplished of Hogwarts' students and you seem to have captured the loyalty of a rather wild beast," he inclined his head toward Sirius, "That is no small accomplishment and hardly the doings of a nobody."

"I don't believe she's after anyone, Lucy," Severus said. "If anything, she is attached to the Dark Lord. Well, here's a thought. She attached herself so clearly to him that somehow her energies still exist with his as they continue to float around Hogwarts. But... I don't believe he has any attachment to her. He never thought of her as she thought of him. _You_, on the other hand, are always thinking of her.

"You were even before you began hearing her voice, am I correct? Perhaps that resonates with that energy. You hear her because you have forged a connection, just as she forged a connection to the Dark Lord. I don't know what that means or what you are supposed to_ do_ about it but it seems quite likely."

"I agree with your insight, Severus," the headmaster nodded. "Although I confess that I also do not know what could be done about it or what it might mean. Yet everything we have seen this year seems to be related to these ideas of floating energies and individual connections."

Lucy sniffed, feeling a bit teary but not actually crying, "Great. I brought this on myself then. I _hate_ having to sit around waiting for something to happen, for some incredible insight to strike me. It feels like I'm giving this whole thing permission to bring some sort of destruction down on us." She sat, picking at Snuffles's fur for a moment before something struck her. "Maybe I should go back and look at my copy of that first fairy tale. The girl in that story heard voices."

"Mm," Dinah agreed, thoughtful. "She needed to forgive her stepmother..."

"Saw her too," Lucy said, not hearing Dinah, "I don't see Bella. Now _that_ would be crazy. I mean it was crazy enough seeing people come back from the dead. I'd rather not see actual dead people, excluding our resident ghosts of course."

"I've seen that flayed baby..." Dinah murmured, "Either way, at least we have some potential insight and you can worry less, Lucy."

"Yes. I don't think Black is in any danger," Severus agreed.

"I see" Dumbledore's gaze shifted to Severus. "I do not believe I've ever heard you refer to Mr. Black so amiably, Severus."

Snuffles picked up his head and turned to look at Severus.

Dinah grinned at the headmaster, saying, "It seems Severus and Sirius have been able to work out their differences! We even all ate lunch together on Saturday!"

A small smile formed on the old man's face as he regarded the four of them, and then his gaze returned to Dinah. "That is a phenomenal occurrence. Thank you, Dinah."

"I didn't do it."

Severus chuckled and reached over, sliding his hand through her hair; "On the contrary, Dinah. This was all you. And, I suppose, Lucy had some influence on Black's side of the matter. And she did, after all, set in motion our returning to life," his gaze shifted to Lucy. "I think I should probably thank you for that."

"Oh, um, you're welcome I guess," Lucy felt her face flush, "Not that I'm not glad everyone who came back did. I just…don't really know that I did anything."

"While it's true that it would have been set in motion regardless of who did so, I think the fact that you took on that role is something to be proud of," Dumbledore encouraged, smiling. "It says a great deal about the content of your character," his gaze shifted back to Severus. "It seems a great many things have changed for the positive since I saw you all last."

Severus smiled a little and nodded, taking Dinah's hand into his own once more. "Changes are being made. Slowly...but they are. Now, um," he cleared his throat; "You said that you had something to tell us as well?"

"Mm," Dumbledore agreed. "And I am afraid it is not so positive. There appears to have been someone in my office while I was gone."

"It wasn't me," Lucy denied. She didn't think Dumbledore was accusing her of the crime but she felt the need to deny it nonetheless. "That ridiculous gargoyle wouldn't let me in! I nearly broke my hand trying to see you," she held up her bruised hand.

"I did not mean to imply I thought it was any of you. Though I am curious as to why you felt the need to see me so desperately."

"Friday, during the storm," Lucy muttered.

"Ah," he said, waving his hand in front of him, "No need to elaborate. I do not know who it was, but they left...evidence of their presence," he frowned and removed a thin item from his robes, sliding it across the desk towards Dinah and Severus.

"What is it?" Lucy asked, curious, and Snuffles left her side for a moment, trying to shove his inquisitive nose in there.

Dinah giggled and scratched his head again. Severus rolled his eyes at them and handed the card over to Lucy. "We have reason to be suspicious of these. They have been appearing a lot in relation to our youthening potion. We think that Eugene has someone in this school that is responsible for it, and they have an odd attachment to these cards. That might have been the person in the headmaster's office."

"I'm certain of it," Dinah murmured agreement.

"That seems most likely," Lucy nodded, "I assume you've already told Harry and the other Aurors about this? And that's one of the reasons they're here? Even so I have to say that whoever it is probably wants you to find those, otherwise they're an incredibly incompetent thief, spy, or whatever they are."

"Yes, but _why_?" Dinah had to ask. "I can't even imagine, unless they want to harm the headmaster. And yes, Harry and the Aurors know, but they haven't found any evidence of someone in Eugene's rooms. I'm the only one who has seen anything there; the moment we were youthened Eugene had the place utterly cleaned out. Not only that, he's an Occlumens and Severus has been able to get nothing whatsoever from him in class."

"Don't remind me," Severus snarled, seeming grouchy again.

"Interesting. It could be a warning, a clue, an obsession, a way of sending someone messages. I've really no idea. Maybe," she had thought, "we could see if Mr. Scratch-my-ears over there can pick up anything about the scent. It might lead us to the offender."

"It can't hurt," Dinah agreed, as Sirius stuck his nose on the card, sniffing at it for a good minute before pulling away.

He started going around the room with his nose to the ground, still refusing to revert to his human form and thus unable to tell them what he smelled.

"Well," Lucy said, "I guess I can tell you what he found when he decides to revert back. If that's okay? I mean I could always force a transfiguration but I'd really rather not."

"That's all right," Dinah waved her off, "Let us know when you know. I doubt it will be anything phenomenal at this point. Our next step is really to get more information from Rosa about those books and...well, it seems Slughorn has been acting funny. You don't think you could get anything out of him at meals, do you?"

Lucy sighed, "He's been pointedly ignoring me lately. I think he's offended that we left his last party early, but I can try." She pet Snuffles as he came back to return to his spot at her side.

"Okay, thanks," Dinah sighed. "How long has it been since that party? Since I was the adult Dinah? It feels more like forever than a month and a half. Oh, headmaster...Eugene tried to give Severus and I a reversal potion last week but it didn't work. I guess he's working on it, though..."

"I certainly hope so," Dumbledore said, and then turned to Lucy. "I believe Slughorn has other things on his mind than being offended by you. But anything you hear from him or notice about him might be useful to us."

Lucy laughed at herself, "Sorry, it's not like I think the whole world revolves around me or anything. I'm sure he does have other things on his mind. Last time he talked to me for any length of time he was obsessing over the Blacks and whether or not I'd be quitting. If I see anything of note, though, I'll let you all know."

"Thank you. Now, I believe that at least three of you have classes to teach," Dumbledore said. "Please keep me advised of any key information you may discover."

"I just have one more question," Severus cut in; "Doesn't it bother you that every time you leave the school something dark seems to happen? I don't want to say you shouldn't leave, but... well, you've never taken so many side trips during a year before that I can recall and I just wondered... why."

Dumbledore sighed, looking weary again as he stood. "That is a question for another time, Severus. Another time."

Severus sighed, looking suspicious and concerned, but stood from his chair. "Well, then. I suppose we'll speak with you later."

"Yes. Later..." he trailed off for a moment and then fixed his gaze on Lucy. "If there are any more problems, please do not hesitate to come and find me. But if you are distressed, come with another, not alone. I would not like to see your hand take any further abuse."

"Yes, of course. I…" she wasn't quite sure what to say, "I'll do my best."

"That is all we can ask for," he smiled and ushered them from the office.


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Lucy said, as they walked towards the Great Hall, Snuffles following.

"No. Hopefully things are easier for you from now on. Me, I'm not so sure..." Dinah murmured, looking worried.

"We can only do what we can right now," Severus said, placing a hand on Dinah's shoulder. "At least you have plenty of people on your side this time around."

"Yes, you do," Lucy confirmed, smiling as Snuffles again went over and nudged at Dinah's hand, "See, I told you you were going to have a problem on your hands."

Dinah laughed and scratched Snuffles behind the ears again. "I guess it's my fault for being such an animal lover."

"All right, that's enough, would you please stop petting Black so much?" Severus grabbed, pried Dinah's hand away from the dog. Snuffles growled his protest and Severus snarled back at him. It was kind of funny to watch the two men growl at each other knowing it probably wasn't going to result in some sort of epic battle.

"Okay, okay, enough, we don't want a relapse here," Dinah laughed and stepped in-between them. "Severus, did I ever tell you that you're cute when you're jealous?"

Severus snorted. "Why would I be jealous of a dog?"

"If you aren't, then could you please let go of me? The blood in my hand is going to stop circulating and I'm not going to be much better off than Lucy pretty soon."

"Oh, sure, make fun of the desperate lady with crazy ghosts talking to her," Lucy grinned, and scratched at Snuffles's neck. She felt the stares as their group walked into the Great Hall. Lucy wasn't sure if they were still staring at Dinah and Severus or if they were staring at the large dog at her side.

"Oops," Severus flushed and dropped Dinah's hand. "Well, I'm not sure why we're here. I'm not hungry. Then again," he grinned at Dinah; "I'm sure you are."

"Dinah's always hungry," Lucy joked, "Are you still not feeling well, Severus?"

Severus looked a little embarrassed but Dinah laughed, "Oh no, don't worry about that. See, we sort of had a big breakfast already. Severus insisted on it the moment we woke up."

"Oh, good. Why didn't I get breakfast before the meeting?" Lucy asked, looking down at her companion. Sirius cocked his head and just looked at her, making her giggle, "Ah, right." She remembered just what it was that had kept them in bed until they'd left for the meeting.

Dinah rolled her eyes and chuckled. "I see. Well, that's how it goes I guess. Do you think it's okay for him to be here?" she gestured to Sirius. "Dogs aren't on the list of approved student pets..."

"Probably not," Lucy sighed. She did want him around, but Dinah had a point. She knelt down to be eye-level with her guard dog, "Why don't you go back to the room? I'll be fine here. Dinah and Severus will keep a close watch on me, I'm sure. The door's not locked and you should be able to let yourself in."

"It looks like Hagrid's not here this morning," Dinah offered, "Would you like to sit with us?"

"Sure," Lucy said, and watched as Sirius slunk off, "Well, I doubt he's entirely happy, but he'll live. Thanks for offering. This has the added benefit of delaying me having to talk to Slughorn. He could be a lot worse I know, but he's just…well, he doesn't seem to have much of a verbal filter, you know?"

"Except when he's trying to hide something or afraid of something, which is what we think is going on right now," Severus muttered, nodding.

"Good morning, Professor Ketteridge," Professor Vector, said in greeting to Lucy. "Professor Samson, Professor Snape."

"Good morning," Severus replied with a curt nod, spreading jam onto a corn muffin.

Dinah smiled at Professor Vector, "Good morning."

"I trust all of your classes are going well this winter..." she addressed all three of them, still seeming hesitant. Lucy didn't know her all that well as they hadn't seen much of each other since the school year had begun.

"Yes, most of my students are receptive to the lessons. Though you can tell a real difference in the fifth and seventh years now that their exams are getting closer," Lucy told her.

"Yes," Dinah agreed. "The seventh years are not all happy with having to take a forced Muggle Studies N.E.W.T."

"Perhaps next year you could make the N.E.W.T. portion optional," Severus suggested. "I don't believe the headmaster considered that situation when he made your class required for that year. That is, not to say that a N.E.W.T. in Muggle Studies wouldn't be useful..." he trailed off and shrugged.

"No, you have a point. I don't think it's necessary for all jobs," Dinah agreed, taking a large omelet along with a corn muffin of her own. "It pleases me enough that they simply take the class. And the information does seem to be resonating with them. Perhaps I'll discuss the situation with Dumbledore at some point."

Professor Vector nodded. "He's usually receptive to those kinds of ideas when they are well-argued."

"It might be a useful N.E.W.T. for those who plan to go into the Ministry," Lucy speculated, remembering her own time as a seventh year not so long ago. "Possibly Aurors too, though they already have a heavy test load."

"Yes, in that case it would be useful," Severus agreed, and then frowned.

Dinah looked at Severus before she followed his gaze across the table to where Slughorn's face was buried in his food, appearing rather flushed. "He was looking at us?" she guessed.

"Yes..." Severus agreed slowly, "He was staring over here but when I met his eyes he went back to his food at great speed. I don't like it. I wish he would just get whatever it is out of his system."

"Professor Slughorn has been quite out-of-sorts lately," Professor Vector offered.

"It's true. I wonder if it has anything to do with Eugene assisting with your classes Severus," Lucy suggested.

"Possibly, but that would be odd," Severus said, and then added in a lower tone that only Dinah and Lucy could hear. "Unless he knows something and is concerned that Eugene will accidentally let it slip to me."

Dinah gave her head a firm shake; "I still trust him."

"His sixth-years class is right before mine," Professor Vector said. "The students say that he is very distracted, and has been since Eugene left him. That may have something to do with the...potion incident, though..." she looked hesitant again when she brought that up.

"It's likely," Lucy agreed, "He could just be feeling incredibly guilty about the whole thing. He does tend to feel that emotion intensely. Can you believe it's already March?" she said, trying to relieve the tension, "In just two months it'll be a year since the battle and…"

"Yes. An entire year of life for Black and I...and the headmaster," Severus frowned again when he mentioned his friend.

"The school is better now that he has returned," Professor Vector murmured, and then stood and bid them farewell before heading to her class.

"Something's bothering him too," Lucy said, referring to Dumbledore. "I hope its something easily fixed. I'd hate to think he was brought back just to suffer."

"That," Severus agreed, "is my thought exactly."

* * *

She didn't see Sirius again until her break that afternoon. He was pacing her living area in his human form, looking her over anxiously when she walked in.

"I'm fine," she told him, "Did you pick anything up from the card this morning?"

"Pomegranate shampoo," he said, "It was all over the office. I sniffed around a bit on my way here. Smelled it again over that way," he pointed towards the dungeons, "but I didn't go far as I'm not on the list of approved pets."

Lucy raised her eyebrows, "Are we moody today?"

"I don't like being confined," he growled.

"I know," she said, coming up behind him and kissing his back, "I appreciate you sticking around though. It helps just knowing you're here waiting for me. I'm sorry that means you're stuck in my rooms but parents can be rather old-fashioned when it comes to those who have influence over their children and it'd just be better if they don't find you doing rather inappropriate things to their literature professor."

"Mmm," Sirius said, turning around and doing some of those inappropriate things she'd mentioned.

"Why don't we eat the rest of our meals here? My break tomorrow is right after breakfast so we'll have most of the morning together. After dinner we can even go barge in on Dinah and Severus and tell them about the pomegranate shampoo. If we're lucky maybe you'll pick up something more on the way."

"I doubt it. Any scent that was there will probably be gone by tomorrow night. Unless the idiot is stupid enough to try something again."

"Well, maybe whoever it is will be incredibly stupid. Now, I have exactly one hour before I have to go back to class. Are you going to make good use of that time or just stand there and mope?"

* * *

She stood outside of Severus's door the next evening. She'd tried knocking but he and Dinah didn't seem to have returned from dinner yet. It was still early though. Sighing, Lucy sat on the floor and watched Sirius sniff around for anything interesting. Mostly he kept exhaling sharply. She assumed it was when he ran over Severus's scent as he'd started doing it when he'd sniffed around the door.

After waiting an hour Lucy rolled her eyes and summoned some parchment, a quill and ink. "I guess they're not coming back for awhile," she told Snuffles, "I'll leave them a note and then we can go back to my rooms and get comfortable on the couch."

* * *

Lucy was settled comfortably underneath Sirius on the couch. She'd resisted his overtures for awhile but once she'd finished grading her papers she'd quickly given in.

Somewhere in the room a clock struck ten. Her robe had been tossed over the chair and her legs were comfortably wrapped around him. Sirius had shoved his robes down to his waist and was letting his hands and lips rove where they wanted. He licked a particularly sensitive spot on her neck and she gasped.

Lucy's hands wandered down to his waist, playing with the waistband of his pants. He growled in her ear and retaliated by reaching up and started to push her bra up, out of his way, when she thought she heard the door open.

"Ah!" Lucy screeched, jerking her bra back down and reaching for her robes. There was no way to discreetly go about redressing at this point. "Dinah! Severus! I'm so sorry about that."

"Not as sorry as I am. Should have locked the door," Sirius muttered.

"Note... said to come in," Dinah managed to say.

Severus wasn't talking at all, and neither of them was moving an inch.

"Right," Lucy said. It had been slightly embarrassing when she'd answered the door in just her robe over Christmas. This was much worse. "Sorry, again. I didn't realize it was still early." She shoved on Sirius to get him to move off of her and tugged her robes down into their proper place. "Would you get dressed?" she hissed at him.

"I'm not undressed," he mused.

"Well, then here," she said, wrapping a blanket around his upper half, "Now, at least, you don't look like you're going to freeze."

"Stop that." Dinah said, grabbing Severus's frock coat as he turned to exit the room.

"_Obviously_ we should leave," he hissed.

"It's not like it matters anymore," she turned back to Lucy and cleared her throat, holding the bag she had been carrying out in front of her; "Um. Since we're here anyway I wanted to give these books to you. That is if you think you can find the time to...er, read them..." she flushed, probably still embarrassed at having caught the couple in the middle of something.

Lucy took the bag, looking incredibly embarrassed, she was sure. "I'm sure I can find the time. He's going back to Hogsmeade Thursday morning. Did you want to, um, sit….over there?" Lucy indicated the chairs sitting across from the couch. The ones they _hadn't_ just been laying half-naked on.

"Yeah, sure," Dinah mumbled, pulling the still-protesting Severus over to said chairs and sitting. "The author is Jonathan Yates and the two books on the top are the ones we're most concerned with. They're two of his lesser-known works. Turns out he was extremely famous in the Muggle world. I have some of his classics which I intend to read over again while you peruse those...if you don't mind."

Lucy grinned, "Why would I mind?" She pulled the two books out of the bag and looked them over, "Hmmm. They look interesting. I'll let you know what I figure out when I read them." She nudged Sirius, "Why don't you tell them about what you smelled?"

"Pomegranate shampoo," he said, crossing his arms in front of him, clearly not happy.

"Oh, stop pouting. He found the same smell in this hall towards the dungeons yesterday and a good amount of it in the halls outside your rooms tonight, Severus."

Severus frowned. "I'm not surprised that he or she is spying on us in some manner. After all, that person is presumably the one who youthened us. But... pomegranate shampoo?"

"Do they have to go together?" Dinah asked, "I mean, could you have been smelling pomegranate _and_ shampoo as opposed to pomegranate shampoo?"

Sirius shrugged, "It's possible. It can be hard to separate distinct smells. Sometimes it's obvious when two scents are distinct. For instance you wouldn't have shampoo that smelled like a burnt ham but you might have pomegranate shampoo."

"Right..." she agreed, "It's just that pomegranate juice is one of the key ingredients in the youthening potion. Maybe the key ingredient, really. I wonder if the person is... taking it. I kept seeing half-consumed glasses of red liquid in Eugene's rooms the days that I sort of... ended up back there."

"If the person is drinking it then why did they need to give it to us?" Severus asked.

"I don't know...to test it?" Dinah threw out.

"But why us?"

"I don't know! We were always hanging about with Slughorn and Eugene in the earlier part of the year, maybe we were simply easy targets. Come to think of it, Dumbledore is the one that suggested we stop going there so often, remember?"

"You're suggesting that he knew someone was plotting to do this to us?"

She sighed. "Not exactly. He was clearly shocked when he saw us. It's just...I think he expected something to happen, with my prophecy probably. I mean, honestly we know now that even Mum and Dad expected something to happen. I'm apparently the only idiot left in this world that thought it could be invalidated."

"You're not an idiot," he murmured. "And besides, the headmaster told us to stop seeing them, not continue."

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I can't figure it out."

"I feel like he has to know something," Lucy cut in, wanting to offer her own opinions "He always seems to know. But then he's made sure to keep to himself more than usual this year."

"Yes, which is what concerns me," Severus agreed, nodding. "You don't have any suspicions, do you? I can only think that it might be related to the fact that it bothers him so much...being reborn, that is."

"I don't know. Maybe he's trying to figure out his purpose in being reborn…I always assumed it had to do with teaching and the students here, but maybe I'm wrong."

"Mmm..." Severus muttered, looking a little strained. Finally, he shook his head. "I don't have any answers. Perhaps he will speak with us. He did say we could discuss things of that nature at another time. What do you make of the shampoo portion?" he asked Dinah.

She shrugged. "Well, if it's separate from the pomegranate, I don't know. Maybe our suspect is simply vain about his or her appearance."

"Perhaps," Severus's eyes shot to Sirius with what looked like a slightly threatened expression.

"Or maybe they just didn't rinse their hair well enough. Or washed it too much. For all I know this person could have rubbed the card on their head," Sirius said. He looked a bit tense. Lucy didn't think he was trying to be insulting and was just throwing out any number of wild possibilities.

"They could have even dropped it in some shampoo and then some pomegranate juice or something…that would go along with them being incredibly clumsy and leaving the cards all over the place," Lucy added

"It might be a good idea, if you find more cards, to put them in a bag or something until I can smell them," Sirius suggested.

"All right, that sounds reasonable," Dinah agreed, standing from the chair. "It's getting late and I for one am exhausted after the events of the day. I hope you find some useful stuff in those books. I'm really hoping you can come up with evidence that the author's stories have some truth to them..."

"I'm sure I'll find something that'll help," Lucy said, trying to be encouraging.

Dinah chuckled; "Yeah, now that I've biased you. Well, good night... I guess..." she shot them a Severus-style raised eyebrow.

Lucy smiled, blushing again, "Night. I'll, uh, get right to this," she said, tapping one of the books, hoping to make things less awkward.

"When you can," Dinah laughed and led Severus from the room.

Sirius threw off the blanket and pushed Lucy back down on the couch, tugging at her robes, "Now we can get back to what we were doing before they interrupted."

Laughing she said, "Maybe you should lock the door now."


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

"I can stay if you want me too," Sirius offered, stroking her face Thursday morning. He looked so worried about her that Lucy smiled. Her little episode last Friday seemed to have really bothered him. It was kind of sweet even though she was starting to feel a bit suffocated. She liked being with him but she also liked going to the bathroom by herself occasionally.

"I'll be fine. You're just going to Hogsmeade and I'll see you tomorrow. Dinah and Severus will be around. Dinah's been willing to host me before if I'm feeling upset. Although now that she's seen a new side of me maybe she'll be a little less welcoming."

"She can't fault you for being upset," Sirius said, instantly trying to defend her.

She giggled, "I was referring to when they walked in on us…"

"Oh, right. Well, still, I can stay if you want. I don't think Dumbledore will mind."

"Probably not," Lucy conceded, "but we went over this at the beginning of the year. If I'm going to work through this then you have to go. Besides, I'm barely getting all my work done with you here. Not that I've put up much of a fight."

Sirius sighed, giving in, "Okay, I'll see you Friday. Come right after your last class. If it starts looking stormy or something I'll come here."

"Yes, sir," Lucy reached up to kiss him, "Now go. You've already stayed through breakfast and my break. I really should go to my office hours."

He laughed, "I'll go. Teach those kids and maybe they'll end up owning nearly as many books as you one day."

Laughing, Lucy shoved him out the door, "Go."

* * *

_Okay_, Lucy told herself, _you'll see him tomorrow but maybe it would be good to be around people…_ She'd been feeling kind of jittery since Sirius had left but it was manageable. This was the first night she'd spent alone since that night and it was far too early to go to bed.

Lucy grabbed the books Dinah had given her the other day and headed for the library.

Sitting towards the back of the non-restricted section, she was occasionally interrupted by a group of Slytherin boys, most of who were goofing around. After two hours she watched as ten of the boys left, piling their notebooks on the two remaining boys and laughing.

She sighed as she recognized Derwent and the only other Muggle-born Slytherin boy in Derwent's year, Amedeus Flint. Closing her book for the moment, Lucy went over to the table where the boys were sitting behind stacks of notebooks and parchments. She tapped the boys, who had their noses nearly touching the parchments they were writing on, getting their attention before sitting next to them. "Derwent, are those boys making you two do their homework?"

"Oh, no, Professor Ketteridge," Derwent said, "we offered. They were saying how they were having trouble keeping up with all the work they were getting and some of them have N.E.W.T.s coming up so they have even more homework than normal. Amedeus and I are pretty smart and get through the work quickly so we offered…"

"They let us hang out with them sometimes," Amedeus offered.

"Oh," Lucy said. Severus hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said the other boys only wanted to use Derwent. "Is this why you broke up with Agrona, Derwent?"

"What?" Derwent seemed shocked, "I didn't break up with her! Did she tell you I did? I just haven't had time to hangout with her. I haven't had time to tell her I don't have time. Some of these essays are really hard. I'm not surprised the guys don't have time to do them all."

Lucy picked up one of the textbooks lying on the table and recognized the title from the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. "Derwent this looks like a seventh year's book."

"That's Osric's book. Him and a couple of the others are seventh years," Amedeus said.

"Has it ever occurred to either of you that they only let you hang around them because you do their homework? It doesn't even look like you really get to hang out with them much as they've gone off to do whatever and the two of you are stuck here doing their work. I happen to know you've really hurt Agrona," Lucy said, looking at Derwent, "She's come to me a couple times, crying because you don't talk to her anymore."

"But they like me!" Derwent exclaimed, "They don't like Agrona much. She hangs out with Muggle-borns and other houses…"

"_You_ like her though," Lucy insisted, "At least you used to. If you don't, then you should at least have the decency to tell her. And if you do still like her than it shouldn't matter what those boys think." The boys looked so desperate that she finally offered, "Look, why don't we set up a meeting with the three of us and Professor Snape? Possibly Professor Samson as well. I'm sure all of us can come to some understanding…"

"Um, I don't know…" Neither boy looked enthused about the idea.

"I'm sure we can find a way to do it without them finding out. We_ can_," she insisted when the boys looked skeptical, "Why don't I let you know in class either tomorrow or Monday what we figure out? Or maybe after class…I _will_ let you know what we come up with. I promise. Until then, Derwent I'd like you to do me a favor and at least _try _to talk to Agrona. Give her something, knowing something's happened but not being able to do anything about it can be draining on a girl."

* * *

During her break on Friday Lucy discovered something. "Oh! Oh!" looking around and seeing no one there she felt like an idiot yelling out loud to herself. She grabbed the Muggle version of _The Squib Did It_ and scanned her shelves for one of her history books and _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_, before running out the door. She remembered to close and lock it before rushing off to Dinah's rooms. She knew they both had break at the same time that day and she hoped Dinah wasn't in the dungeons just yet.

"Dinah! Dinah!" she yelled, banging on her friend's door and most likely sounding like the sixteen-year-old her friend actually was.

"What?" Dinah asked, looking shocked to see her standing there.

"I've found something!" she said, pushing her way into Dinah's office, "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you or be rude, this is just so exciting!" She dropped her stack of books on the desk.

"Really?" Dinah's face light up and sat down across from Lucy in her desk chair; "Do tell."

"Okay, well first of all, look here," she opened up the Muggle book to the page she'd marked earlier, "This is where _The Squib Did It_ leaves off and given the dates on it we know this was written after the original anyway. So, I'm guessing if this is at all biographical it was written later in life as he had more experiences.

"Anyway what's really cool is this," she flipped to the last page she'd read, "it seems Scrump, or the character in the book, was a friend of one Flavius Belby. Went on vacation with him to Papua New Guinea in 1782. Recognize the name?" She looked up at her friend not sure if Dinah should recognize the name or not. He wasn't exactly the most famous of wizards after all. Lucy had just been lucky enough to remember it.

"It sounds familiar..." Dinah murmured, frowning, her forehead scrunching in thought, "Is he on a wizard card?"

"Yes! Though not one of the more sought after ones I believe," she shifted the books to pick up the history one she'd brought, "He's mentioned in this, but I don't know why I brought it. It's useless to us," she set the book aside and opened _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,_ opening up to the lethifold section, "Here's what we're concerned with. Flavius Belby discovered how to repel a Lethifold! Sounds like he saved Scrump's life too! And he wrote about it! In his book! Do you know what this means?"

"Um... no," Dinah said, looking embarrassed.

"It means he's written from real life experiences! Probably that a good portion of the two books are true!"

"Oh!" Dinah's face lit up again. "Lucy, that's amazing! And his writing style? It bears that out as well? You saw some of the Muggle classics, too. They're mostly about real historical events and the like..."

"From what I've looked at yes. I admit I haven't looked at much, being busy and all with….my guest…He didn't leave until just before my office hours on Thursday, which meant I didn't have a break all day, then I went to the library and found Derwent and Amedeus, which I need to talk to you about, but _this_," Lucy said, taking a breath and indicating the books, "is fascinating."

"Oh, this is wonderful!" she stood from the desk, pacing in her excitement; "I wonder what kind of missing good he found! Did he figure out how to help it after the book was published? And did he know that Horcrux wizard? Or the stepmother girl? He knew Flavius Belby! Oh, I suppose some of these could be true stories from other people. I wonder what kind of new information Mae will bring into the mix!"

"What does Mae have to do with this?" Lucy said, confused. She liked the first year and knew she was smart but couldn't make the connection between Raymond Scrump and Mae Yates.

Dinah laughed; "Would you believe she's a descendent of Scrump? Scrump as Yates, that is."

"Oh!" Lucy caught on to the connection, "That's wonderful. I'm sure she'll have something for us to work with. She and Andrew seem to be doing better this term."

"They do," Dinah smiled. "I'm really pleased about that and so is Severus. Oh, you said you wanted to talk about Derwent? Severus and I also really need to get something to you before you leave to go to Hogsmeade tonight. We have something for Sirius to smell."

"All right," Lucy said, thinking it was a bit weird to hear it said like that but he would be smelling objects so it was a truthful statement, "I'm supposed to head out right after my last class, I had to promise, and that's right before dinner, but I'm sure I can delay it a few moments. I'll have to pack and catch Dora anyway. About Derwent…I caught him and another Muggle-born Slytherin, Amedeus Flint, doing the homework of about ten other boys, some seventh years. They said they offered to do it because the boys complained about having too much course work and it has the added bonus of the boys letting Derwent and Amedeus hangout with them. I was thinking you, me, and Severus could set up a meeting with them. Derwent and Amedeus that is. I told them we'd find a way to do it without the other boys finding out."

"Ah, so that's what's been happening," Severus's voice said from where he had appeared in the doorway. "It's lunch hour," he said when they just stared at him. "My class just let out and you told me to meet you here," he looked at Dinah.

"Oh, right, I guess I got so distracted I lost track of the time," she laughed. "Anyway, if you heard Lucy's speech then what do you think?"

"If either of you think I'm going to shorten my assignments because of this then you are grossly mistaken. Otherwise, yes, we can discuss this with them. Those seventh years are going to be the recipients of lower grades for not doing their work on their own. I'll be glad to get their names from the Muggle-borns."

Lucy grinned a little, not sure how seriously to take him. "I don't think you should shorten your assignments, no. It also seems that Derwent doesn't think he's broken up with Agrona. He's just been too busy to tell her he's too busy to talk to her," she sighed, feeling sorry for the poor girl.

"Infernal Muggle-borns," Severus growled, walking up to the desk.

"I don't think it has anything to do with him being Muggle-born," Dinah laughed.

He smiled a little, coming up behind her and putting his arms around her. "Yes, well... force of habit. Either way, those boys are going about everything wrong. Though I don't know what we could do to change that I will go along with this meeting if you both insist on it."

"I just don't want to see them go down this road. I'd hate to think of them going through life thinking they have to do other peoples' homework just so they have friends."

Severus sighed. "Yes, that would be unfortunate. Although why all of these types of people had to appear this year along with the both of you and the youthening..." he rolled his eyes, "The universe is insisting upon changing me all at once, apparently. Well," he drew away from Dinah and examined the books on the desk. "What do we have here? Did you discover something?" he addressed Lucy.

"Yes!" she said, excited again and moving to point out the right spot in the Muggle book to Severus, "Flavius Belby!" she announced.

"The Lethifold defeater?" Severus stared at the page.

Dinah sighed and shook her head; "He knows _everything_."

Lucy grinned, "Yeah, you definitely get that impression as one of his students." She turned back to Severus, "Yes, the Lethifold defeater. Seems he and Scrump went on vacation together when Belby happened upon the way to get rid of the creature."

"So he writes from experience."

Dinah sighed again. "It certainly seems like it."

"Don't feel bad Dinah," Lucy said, sensing her friend was feeling a bit upset about not having recognized the name, "We've both grown up learning this stuff. I just happened to recognize the name is all. I didn't instantly know it or anything."

"That's not really it, but thanks," Dinah grinned. "Anyway, I think this combined with the truth in his Muggle tales is enough to say that he likes incorporating quite a bit of reality into his writings. We can still see what Mae has to say, but..." she shrugged.

Severus nodded. "It's enough to conclude that there is some truth to that missing good story. It's likely enough that Tommy is such a person that I think it would be good to..." he looked like he had to force the rest out as he shot Dinah a concerned glance, "investigate the boy more. If we can find him."

"Um, yes..." Dinah agreed, looking awkward.

"Well, now that we've decided about that…do you two want to go to lunch? I'm _starving_."

"Sure, let's go," Dinah closed her laptop and hurried toward the door, forcing Severus and Lucy to rush to catch up.

* * *

"These magazines were given to us by Professor Slughorn," Dinah said, handing the two open periodicals over to Lucy after classes let out that evening. "See? Eugene's advertisement for human testing that he showed to Slughorn is a fraud. He's never tested the potion on anyone more than his mysterious test subject and... us," she frowned.

"Hmmm," Lucy frowned, "That's…disturbing. I guess that explains why Slughorn's started talking to me again. Today he asked me if I'd ever met a werewolf and also if I'd ever been to Durmstrang. I wasn't really sure what to make of those questions so I just tried to avoid answering them." She wasn't sure who knew Remus was a werewolf and who didn't so she tried to err on the side of caution and keep her mouth shut about that particular issue. She wasn't always successful but in those cases she kept her opinions restricted to the general.

Dinah sighed. "He's not taking my advice about acting normal. Though, I guess, what is 'normal' with Slughorn? Maybe that is normal. Well, avoidance is good. I accidentally said something to him about Sirius smelling the magazines but he seemed to forget about it right away."

Lucy grimaced, "Well, he didn't mention anything about Sirius or the Blacks, which is a bit unusual. I think he's trying though. He was certainly back to his chatty self."

"Well, that's good," she smiled. "Since it was a long time ago that Eugene gave the magazine to Slughorn I don't expect Sirius will get too much out of it, if anything, but it's worth a shot. Here, though, Severus had a great idea," she withdrew an empty potion bottle in a bag and handed it to Lucy. "He got Eugene to touch this, so it has Eugene's scent all over it. I figure it can't hurt for Sirius to learn Eugene's scent. Maybe he can snoop around some more in dog form and see if he notices anything useful."

Lucy felt her lips turning up in a big grin, "Oh, we are going to have fun this weekend. It's fun running around together in our other forms. It might be more fun if we were the same animal but that's okay. Plus, he's got a better nose than I do but I can also go places he can't so who knows I might be able to help that way too."

"That would be great!" Dinah smiled. "And it's supposed to be nice this weekend, provided there are no dark storms. I checked online," she grinned sheepishly. "The snow should be melted for good now. It's so nice that it's finally March."

"On what line? You mean you checked the Daily Prophet?" She'd never heard that term Dinah'd used before. Lucy sighed, "I'll miss the snow, but I agree it'll be nice to have some green and warmer temperatures."

"I suppose the snow is a lot more fun when you have a fur coat for it," Dinah nodded. "Online is a Muggle thing... I'll have to show it to you one of these days, I'm surprised I haven't' already. But you have to get going now, don't you?" she looked down at where Dora was pawing at the door to her crate.

"Yeah. I really would like to stay and chat, but with everything that happened last weekend…" Lucy trailed off awkwardly, "We should plan another movie night though. Maybe we can con Severus into watching it with us…or Sirius, or both. That might be too much too soon though."

"Yes..." she agreed, "Well, we'll see. We'll have to think about it. Meantime, enjoy your weekend. Maybe I'll see you out on the grounds. And this time I won't run away!"

Lucy laughed, grabbing her things and heading towards the door, "That'll be nice. I promise I don't bite."

Dinah laughed; "I know. I'm an animal lover, remember? Well, see you later," she bid Lucy farewell in the hallway.


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Lucy opened the door to her home and kicked it shut behind her before releasing Dora. The cat streaked out of her carrier and straight towards Sirius. "I've got something for you," she said, dropping her bag on the couch and hugging him.

"Mmm. I think I've already got it," he kissed her neck.

She rolled her eyes, "Is that all you ever think about? No, I've got things for you to sniff. Dinah caught me before I left and gave them to me. They're pretty sure Eugene transfigured an advert in one of the magazines there so it'd look as if he was advertising for testers. One of them is the original version and the other is the changed one. The other thing in there is something Eugene touched. They thought if you could detect his scent it might help."

"Those can wait until tomorrow. I want to make sure you're all right," he said, sitting them on the couch, next to the bag.

"Surprisingly good. I mean I thought I'd be a lot worse but…" Lucy shocked herself by starting to cry, "Bella's dead, but I've…somehow I've kept her here. By being afraid of her, worrying about her. I just feel so stupid. I don't know how to make myself stop; how to make her go away," she laughed, wiping at her eyes, "I really have been fine. You can ask Dinah if you don't believe me."

"I believe you and you are far from stupid. Bellatrix was always scary, even when we were kids. Her stay in Azkaban didn't help," he looped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"I should go back and read that fairytale, but first things first. We have to figure out what Eugene is up to."

"No, first we must eat. Then we'll spend a nice relaxing evening together. Tomorrow we can try and figure Eugene out."

* * *

"Here," Lucy said around midday, holding out an empty potion bottle, "Sniff this first. Severus got Eugene to touch it so you should be able to get his scent off it. Maybe a little of Severus and me too, but as far as I know no one else has touched it."

Snuffles came close to sniff at the object, blowing out air sharply when he apparently came across Severus's scent. "Come on now. I've stood right next to the man. Severus does _not_ stink. You might not like his scent but he hardly smells bad."

He walked over to where she had sat the two magazines, apparently done smelling the bottle, and began sniffing them.

"Well? Do they smell like Eugene?"

Snuffles shook his whole body and transformed back into Sirius. "No," he said, "They smell like a combination of whiskey and mints."

"That's a weird combo. I've never noticed that smell on Slughorn and as far as I know he's the only one that's been handling those, with the exception of Dinah and Severus. Of course I've only been using my poor human nose and I haven't been sniffing him much either."

"Maybe you should start," Sirius joked, grinning at her.

Lucy rolled her eyes and sighed, "Dork. Do you mind if we hold off on sniffing around until tomorrow? I want to read that fairytale and see if I can find anything that will help me with Bella…"

"That's fine. We need to figure this out for you too. I think Dinah would understand."

"I know she would and if she wanted us to rush on sniffing out Eugene then I hope she would say something."

The more Lucy read of the tale the more she knew what she had to do. She didn't know how she was going to manage it or how she should go about it but she was certain it had to be done. "I have to forgive her," she whispered.

"Hmmm?" Sirius asked, reading his own book across the room.

"I have to forgive her," she said louder.

"Well, that sounds simple enough," he said, looking up from his book, "just say you forgive her."

Lucy laughed, standing up and setting the fairytales aside, "I don't think it's quite that simple." For the first time she began to think it might be time to go down to the room where her life had changed. A room she desperately wanted to avoid. "I think I'm going to go to bed."

"Alright," Sirius said, going back to his book, "I'll be up in a minute."

* * *

The next day they sniffed their way across Hogwarts grounds, picking up Eugene's unique scent, which was accented with pomegranates. They worked separately, trying not to look too odd. A fox and a large dog sniffing around each other.

The scent trail eventually led them to the Forbidden Forest. Looking at each other, Lucy and Sirius entered the forest. They sniffed around following the trail but quickly lost the scent and emerged from the forest near where Eugene had entered.

They tried finding other trails but weren't successful and eventually chased each other around for awhile, not wanting return to Hogsmeade so soon. The pair ended up by the lake and Sirius pushed on Lucy, causing her to fall in. Annoyed and wet she crawled out, nipping at his legs as he ran away.

Lucy tried to skid to a halt when she saw Sirius run right through a couple of sixth years, walking the grounds and holding hands. The students' attempt to dodge the dog had Lucy running right into the girl. The yip she uttered was more of an instinctual reaction than an actual cry of pain. Sirius quickly turned around to come back and investigate what had happened.

The girl gasped; "Lucy! Sirius!"

She looked up to see that the people they'd crashed into where Dinah and Severus. She yipped in what she hoped sounded like a friendly greeting and stood with both front paws resting on Dinah's legs. Sirius sat nearby, his tongue hanging out and breathing heavy after his run.

Dinah took one look at Lucy and squealed. "Ahh, you two are _so cute_! Severus, _look_! Isn't she adorable?"

"Whatever, now would you please stop _squealing_?" he demanded, his eyes darting around the grounds.

She sighed. "I can't help it. Lucy, really, you _know_ how I react to cuteness," she giggled, scratching Lucy behind her pointed ears and patting Sirius on the head. She paused, before asking, "Why are you all wet?"

Lucy sighed and turned her head towards Sirius, doing her best to indicate it was his fault. She wasn't used to having to communicate with people while in this form. The Weasleys knew about her animagus but they'd rarely seen her in this body.

He barked and came over to shove Lucy over, demonstrating what he'd done earlier by the lake.

"He pushed you?" Dinah guessed.

Lucy nodded, nipping at Sirius again. His response was to shove at her a little harder, causing her to stumble.

"Oh, now stop it, that's not nice!" Dinah put her hands on her hips and scolded Sirius. "Bad doggy!" Severus snickered behind her.

If Lucy had been human she would have laughed at the look Sirius turned on Severus. She nudged him with her head. Once she'd caught his eye he gave a nod of understanding. Lucy walked back up to Dinah and pawed at her legs for attention.

"Aww!" Dinah squealed again; "You are so _cute_! This is so exciting! I never got to play with a fox before, the real ones are so skittish, but not you! This is so-" she broke off when Severus covered her mouth with his hand.

He sighed when Dinah narrowed her eyes at him. "You've made your point, Dinah. Now enough about cuteness!"

She sighed right back at him, her eyes glinting with mischief.

"Ow!" he drew back, flushing as he met her gaze. "Not now, Dinah..."

She giggled and turned back to the animals. "Do you think Lucy is trying to tell us something?"

"Why don't you just ask her?" Severus muttered, rubbing at his hand.

"Are you trying to tell us something?" Dinah asked.

Lucy stared at Severus for a moment, wondering what in the world had happened since Friday. She nodded and turned in a circle, hardly able to contain her excitement that she'd successfully communicated with Dinah.

Dinah squealed again but cut herself off when Severus glared at her. She turned back to Lucy; "Okay, what is it?"

She sat for a moment, watching Sirius and trying to figure out how best to let her friend know what they wanted to show her. After a minute she stood and sniffed around at the ground, Sirius following her lead.

"Oh, they must have caught the scent of something!" Dinah exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "We should follow them!"

"If you insist," he sighed and they followed.

It took them a little bit but they soon found a pace that seemed to work well for everyone. Passing the lake, Sirius again used his nose to shove her in the lake. She got out quicker this time and nipped at his ear that was still in reach.

Dinah sighed and laughed; "We're never going to get anywhere if these animals don't stop fooling around."

"Black, do you really think this is necessary?" Severus muttered, pointing at Lucy, who was dripping wet, "It's not exactly summer, you know."

"Ah, that's right," Dinah agreed, concerned. "Isn't it a little cold out to be wet? Even with a fur coat?"

Lucy shook herself out, careful not to soak her human friends, and nodded. She wasn't freezing but she was getting chilled after that second dunk in the lake. She walked under Sirius and rubbed her face against his leg drying her face somewhat.

"No more lake pushing! In fact, you should lead us down a path away from it, okay? Do you need me to cast a hot air charm?" Dinah asked Lucy.

Lucy shook her head. She might need it when she turned back into her human form, something she was considering doing when they got to the forest, but for now she could survive. She ran off towards the forest, Sirius keeping pace with her, only slowing down when Dinah shouted at them.

Nearing the forest they slowed, and began sniffing around, trying to catch Eugene's scent again. Sirius found it first and followed it to the edge of the forest.

"In the forest?" she asked the animals.

Lucy nodded and darted into the forest, Sirius close behind. They all settled near a fallen log and some rocks, the darkness of the trees sheltering them from the view of anyone on the Hogwarts grounds.

"Well?" Severus asked, his hand wandering to sit on Dinah's hip in a fairly intimate gesture; "What are we looking for here?"

Dinah squirmed, shifting her feet a little in the soft earth. "Yes. What's up?"

Lucy looked around, and transfigured back into her human self. Taking a moment to straighten herself up and cast that hot air charm Dinah had mentioned earlier, Lucy grinned at her friends. "Sorry about that. Can't have someone seeing, you know. Besides it was fun to have you chase us around."

Dinah laughed; "Yes, I'm sure. Um... sorry if I was annoying. You know me and animals. I don't think that's really going to stop anytime soon..."

Lucy giggled, "Oh, you weren't annoying. I thought it was fun. People don't generally like to interact with fox…with a few exceptions, so it's nice to get pats and such. Sorry about running into you earlier. I was trying to avoid hitting you but then you moved to avoid hitting him," she said indicating Sirius, still in his dog form and sniffing idly around.

"He's not going to turn back?" Dinah asked, gesturing to the dog.

"Probably not," she said, looking over at him, "He likes running around as Snuffles and he might be able to pick up on something this way too. Um, so we got Eugene's scent off that potion bottle. He must work with pomegranates a lot. They were heavily mixed with his scent. Severus's scent was mixed in there too. Sirius was able to differentiate them better than I could, but we're both able to recognize the scent."

"Eugene's scent!" Severus exclaimed suddenly, "That's what you followed into here, isn't it?"

"Yes," Lucy nodded, "I'm afraid we lost it when we came in here though. So many creatures roam here…" In fact they hadn't even found the smallest trace of the man's scent inside the forest.

"We need to be careful," Dinah murmured. "There are dementors in here, too." She turned to Severus, "You're thinking that the test subject is in here often enough that this is where the dementors like to be. And Eugene must come in here to communicate with the test subject."

"Exactly," he looked pleased, "That's exactly what I was thinking. Lucy, did either of you notice the pomegranate shampoo scent in here?"

"Well, no we—" Lucy was interrupted by Sirius's barking and scratching at a large tree.

"He must have found something!" Dinah said, and the three of them hurried over to see what Sirius had discovered.

Lucy knelt on the ground next to Sirius. When she saw what he was pointing at she gingerly picked up a partially broken glass. In the bottom were the remnants of a brownish-yellow liquid. "What is that?" Lucy asked a bit disgusted. "Do you have any clue Severus?"

Severus let his hand slip away from Dinah and knelt down, taking the glass from her and sniffing inside of it. "A touch of lemon, I think... the color appears to be the result of the decay of some sort of plant material. Perhaps daisy roots?" he looked at Dinah.

"Daisy roots," she repeated. "And lemon? You're thinking it's the youthening potion?"

"That's my train of thought. A very old batch, out here for quite some time. Black, do you get any pomegranate out of this? It maybe quite bitter and old, but if there's any in there..." he held the glass out to Sirius.

Lucy watched her fiancé stick his snout into the glass to sniff it. "Careful," she warned him when he quickly pulled his nose out of the glass. He looked at Severus and nodded. "He did smell the pomegranate and I'm guessing it smelled…oh! You did cut yourself!" Lucy said, catching him trying to lick at the wound.

"Aww, the poor puppy," Dinah's murmured, sympathetically, "Will he be okay?"

"Come here," Lucy said, grabbing his head and forcing him to look at her so she could see the cut better. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and dabbed at the wound, "It doesn't look too bad. Head wounds do tend to bleed a lot," she said, continuing to fuss over her injured puppy.

Dinah sighed and sat back; "So what does it all mean?"

"A number of things," Severus listed them with his fingers. "Number one, the test subject and Eugene have been here. Number two, the potion is old enough that it has to have been out here since before winter, implying that even though he were staying in Eugene's rooms at the time he still came out here on occasion. Number three, the test subject is very much a test subject and has always been and is probably still taking the potion regularly, trying to keep himself at whatever age the potion takes him to, within days at least, maybe closer. I sense some desperation there along with the despair."

"But why?"

"That's where our deductions always stop it seems," Severus said with a sigh. "The why."

Lucy sat back and sighed, "Why is always the hardest question to answer. That's probably why it comes last."

"Last?" Dinah turned a curious gaze to her friend.

"You know; your basic investigative questions. Who, what, where, when, and why," Lucy explained, "What, where, and when tend to be the easiest to answer. Who's usually not too bad but why is almost always the hardest to answer."

"Oh," Dinah laughed a little. "You're right, of course. And sometimes 'how' is also included in there. I think it's often as hard to answer as why, although not always. It probably depends on the context."

Lucy nodded, "Yes, probably. This is all rather frustrating and I'm not even that involved," she sighed, hugging Sirius, "Sometimes I just wish everything was normal again. Of course I guess nothing's ever really normal and even with all the weirdness this year hasn't been _that_ bad," she conceded, twisting her engagement ring around her finger.

"Yes," Severus murmured agreement, reaching his arms around Dinah's waist again and pulling her back to him, resting his head over her shoulder as she sighed and leaned into his embrace. "This year has not been all bad."

Lucy tilted her head as she regarded them. Something had happened between them. She was sure of it. "Is there something going on?" she asked.

"Oh, um... nothing, really," Dinah blushed, revealing she was a complete liar.

Severus sighed; "You can share if you wish."

"Really?" she turned her head to stare at him, surprised.

He shrugged, smirking a little. "Well, I assume it would only be a matter of time before you told your friend at any rate. I've learned a thing or two about women since you and Lucy came to this school."

Dinah chuckled and nuzzled her head against his for a moment; "You have, I'll say that much. But... even in front of him?" she pointed at Sirius, who looked a little offended at her remark and stalked off to sniff around the tree some more.

Severus's smirk widened. "Perhaps especially in front of him."

"Ah, I see. I know something about men as well," she teased.

Lucy pursed her lips, "Well, are you going to tell me? You already chased away my fur coat," she teased, glancing over at Sirius, "and I'm afraid I'm not quite wearing the proper robes for the weather conditions."

The other couple murmured back and forth for a bit before Dinah turned to Lucy, "Do you see this outfit that I'm wearing right now?" she gestured down at the Muggle shirt and skirt she was wearing.

"No, Dinah," Lucy teased, trying to keep her face serious, "I don't see any outfit, in fact you've been naked this whole time."

Dinah sighed and shot her an annoyed glare.

"What? I was just teasing."

"You're ruining it!" she almost whined.

Severus he shook his head. "Perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all."

"Sorry!" Lucy said, feeling bad, "I didn't mean to. I promise not to tease now, but if you'd rather tell me later or something that's fine."

"No, now I have to tell you," Dinah pouted, Severus leaning in to her again. She grinned. "Well, it was very, very easy for me to find this outfit in my closet this morning, and do you know why?" Severus drew away and shot her a very confused look and she playfully placed her fingers over his lips, shushing him before turning back to Lucy.

"Um, no," Lucy said, confused.

"My clothes are now organized!" Dinah exclaimed with glee, a huge smile spreading across her face as she leaned forward, pressing her palms together and waiting for Lucy's reaction.

"They were disorganized?" Lucy was still confused. It finally hit her when Dinah raised a single eyebrow at her, "Oh! Well, congratulations I suppose!"

Severus sighed, rubbing his forehead; "We're still using that metaphor?"

"It's a good metaphor," Dinah stated, turning to him with a nod.

"Whatever you say," he laughed a little.

Lucy nodded, "It's certainly useful for when the students are around. You can come back now," she called to Sirius, "it's just sex." The dog ambled back so eagerly she had to smile, "Not our sex you goof. Theirs."

Dinah and Severus blushed.

Sirius walked over to the couple and sniffed Dinah before turning his nose to Severus and repeating the action.

"All right, this feels a little invasive," Dinah murmured, backing away from the dog.

"Very," Severus agreed, glaring at him.

"What's he trying to do; check to see if we're lying? Can he do that?" she turned to Lucy.

"I don't think so," Lucy said, having no clue what the dog was up to, "I've no idea what he's doing." Snuffles, done sniffing the others, came over and began sniffing her. "What _are_ you doing? You don't have to sniff me. If anything I smell like _you_."

After he was done he sat and regarded the three humans. Lucy thought about it for a moment, "Maybe he was trying to get our scents. I mean I don't know that he's ever sniffed either of you. Is that what you were doing?"

Snuffles stuck his nose in the air. Either refusing to answer or sniffing the air, Lucy wasn't sure.

Laughing she said, "Oh, fine. Be that way. Come here and keep me warm. You got me all chilled, dumping me in the lake like that."

Dinah laughed, seeming to feel a little better now that Sirius's nose was not stuck in her face. "Well, I guess that's all for now? If you come out here again, be careful. We have reason to believe that dementors frequent the forbidden forest. Um... but if you catch any more of Eugene's or the test subject's scents in here can you try to investigate or let us know? It would be nice if we could figure out where the test subject's permanent encampment is." Severus nodded agreement.

"Yeah, no problem. Um, I should warn you we didn't follow the scent trail to its origin. We didn't want to end up too close to the school but it seemed to come from that direction. Oh, and we got nothing but the smell of whiskey and mints off the magazines," Lucy said, reaching her hand around Snuffles and rubbing his chest.

Dinah chuckled and shook her head; "Slughorn, probably. Well, we knew it was a long shot. The main thing with those is that we know Eugene's been lying about everything."

Lucy nodded, "Yes, we do know that. I'll see you tomorrow then? I'm back tonight, but I assume you'll be busy…" she blushed.

"Yes, well then," Severus said, a little louder than normal, standing up and brushing himself off before holding his hand out for Dinah. "I assume you want to transform back if you're going to Hogsmeade. This would be the best place in which to do it."

"Yeah. I can't exactly leave the grounds if I haven't entered them," she turned back into her fox form, taking a couple steps over to Sirius and licking at his wound.

Dinah opened her mouth but was cut off by Severus's firm, "Don't."

She laughed. "Fine, fine," she wandered over to the animals and petted them both. "Ready to head out of the Forbidden Forest?"

Lucy nodded and started trotting out of the forest, back the way they'd come.

"Well," Dinah inhaled the fresh air when they emerged back onto the sunny grounds. "I'd suggest we try and follow Eugene's scent all the way to the source now but I guess that's probably something Snuffles should do alone. It would be easy enough passing him off as our pet dog but people don't generally have pet foxes."

Lucy sat and nudged at Sirius, trying to say he should go with them but the stubborn beast just sat next to her, apparently not willing to leave Lucy alone for long just yet. She rolled her eyes, or at least tried to, before nudging him again, but he absolutely refused to move.

"Don't worry about it," Dinah said. "We can always do it on Wednesday or something. There may be new smells by then, too."

Lucy stood, rubbed against both Dinah and Severus before sticking a paw in the air, trying to wave.

"You know, I'm starting to think you're doing this on purpose," Dinah giggled, leaning over and hugging Lucy good-bye, as Sirius came over and nudged her with his nose, jealous, so she grabbed him too. "You two are so adorable! We have to do this again sometime!"

"Merlin, what have I gotten myself into..." Severus muttered, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Dinah, let them go, please, we're not adopting them, do you understand me?" he pulled at her arm, trying to drag her away from the animagi.

"Oh, all right," she drew back from the creatures, now wagging their tails up at her, and then pat them both on the head once more before standing and letting Severus take her possessively back into his arms. "Maybe Snuffles isn't the only one who's, jealous, huh?" she teased.

Lucy gave the fox version of a grin and nodded, before the pair ambled down toward the gates guarding the entrance to the school.


	46. Chapter 46

A/N: I, like animalwriter, am thinking about posting some "extended scenes" with an M rating for this story, probably not until after I finish this one. Any thoughts?

* * *

Chapter 46

"What _was_ all that sniffing about?" Lucy asked once they were back in their home.

"Getting their scents like you said. Their scents are all over each other by the way."

"Then why were you sniffing me?"

He grinned, coming over to play with her hair, "I just like your scent."

Lucy snuggled up to him, "You're cute. Do you think it was odd Dinah just blurting out she and Severus had sex like she did?"

Sirius laughed, "Well _I_ think it's odd but girls talk about that stuff I know. I'm sure you told her when we did it."

"Not exactly," Lucy hedged, "If I remember right she caught me on the way down to the kitchens one weekend. I made some comment about the food not being for eating and she sort of guessed. I mean we have talked about sex and I have, in the past, offered advice as best I could give it…I guess I'm just worried she felt like she _had_ to tell me."

"If she hadn't wanted you to know she wouldn't have told you. If it bothers you that much talk to her about it. I recommend turning into a fox right after so she's overwhelmed by your cuteness."

Lucy laughed, "Dinah does have a weakness for animals doesn't she?"

Lucy laughed, "Dinah does have a weakness for animals doesn't she?"

* * *

"Mmm we have to stop," Lucy groaned, her hand sliding down Sirius's chest Wednesday.

Sirius grunted and lightly bit her neck in retaliation, "Then quit it."

"You first," she said, gasping when his fingers traveled a little father up her leg. "Really. We have to. Dinah and Severus are coming over. They want you to sniff around."

"We'll stop when they get here," he panted, shifting to give her better access.

"Before," Lucy insisted, not following her own advice, "They're still embarrassed about the last time."

"That was your fault for telling them to just come in. They'll knock," Sirius said, capturing her lips for a few moments.

"Maybe so," Lucy grinned, "but I think you're going to have trouble hiding what we've been doing."

A firm knock at the door interrupted another intense kiss.

Lucy pulled back and grinned, "Told you so. Come in!" she called, putting some distance between herself and Sirius.

Dinah opened the door and she and Severus entered to find them seated far apart on the couch.

Severus sighed. "How unusual."

Lucy giggled. The man sounded so resigned. "Surely this is an improvement?"

"I'll gladly go back to what I was doing before you came in," Sirius offered.

"No thank you!" Severus exclaimed.

"Well, you should talk," Sirius retorted, grumbling a little and adjusting his robes before standing from the couch. "You two and your mingled scents...I wouldn't be able to follow one without finding the other."

Dinah flushed.

"We at least know the meaning of discretion," Severus muttered.

"What's that?" Dinah teased.

He gave her a look; "If you don't know, I might have to cut you off."

"No, don't!" she almost yelped, giggling and grasping his arm.

Severus chuckled. "Don't worry; I don't think I'd be able to."

"It can be quite addicting," Lucy chimed in, eyes sparkling with mischief, "Though I think you should note we are in my rooms and sat at least two feet apart before you entered."

"You're fine," Dinah shrugged; "So, ready to eat and then get started?"

"Um, hungry, yes," Lucy said awkwardly, smoothing her robes as they fell back into place when she stood.

"I'll send for the food," Sirius said, putting his hands in his pockets and trying to reposition his robes.

"This socialization stuff was less awkward when we were animals," Lucy murmured, going over to inspect his cut from Sunday before kissing it quickly, "It seems to be healing well."

"Well, I'm sure Dinah would not object to you both transforming into animals," Severus said wryly as Dinah followed him over to the dining table.

Lucy smiled, "Probably not, but then we'd have to deal with her squealing all the time. That and it's probably easier if one of us can still talk. I can interpret most of his signals, he can smell better than I can, and if we come across any unfriendlies while he's transformed he's better able to fight them off than I am." She rubbed the back of her head where she still had the occasional ache from Septimus's rock.

"No, that's fine," Dinah said, settling into her chair. "I really only expected Sirius to transform this close to the school, after what happened. Oh! Beef casserole and currant pie with cream for dessert!"

Lucy laughed, taking a chair, "You and your food fixations. Anyway," she said, making sure to keep both hands in view of their guests, "Are you two still sure tomorrow works for you to meet with Derwent? I told him after dinner in my office. His buddies think he's got detention. Amedeus might back out of coming but he's supposed to be there too."

"That's fine," Severus muttered while Dinah began devouring her delicious food. "I still don't know what you expect us to do. You will lead the meeting."

Sirius opened his mouth to say something but Lucy elbowed him before he could get any words out,. "Don't you say a word," she hissed, turning to Severus, "I expect you'll be able to help with the dynamics of Slytherin House. I've no idea how things work in there. I know Ravenclaw. If Derwent was a Ravenclaw I could use reason to get him to realize these jerks are just yanking his chain. Plus this way he knows you're aware of the situation. I'm hoping Dinah's Hufflepuff side will come forth and help Derwent not to feel like a bloody idiot…among other things."

"Um, as a general rule Slytherins are rather sickened by my Hufflepuff side," Dinah joked, grinning at Severus.

He laughed; "Well, perhaps initially..."

"Well, maybe you can convince Agrona to come and play referee or something," Lucy said, growing slightly agitated, "I don't know. I'm sorry. I just…I don't do conflict well. Quite frankly, and please don't take this the wrong way, I've also been avoiding being alone with Slytherin students as much as possible after the incident with the rock and my head." She hadn't told Sirius exactly what had happened at first but he knew now that Septimus Peaks had abused her fox self.

"I suppose that's understandable," Severus sighed. "At any rate, whatever will happen will happen. And these are Muggle-born Slytherins. You're already beginning to prove that there's a difference," he turned to Dinah.

"Yes, quite a bit of one, actually," she agreed, having finished two servings of beef casserole in record time and already moving on to her pie. "I've got some more data and I've even considered starting my write-up. But I think I'll save the rest for a surprise," she grinned.

Lucy sighed and shoved her half eaten casserole and reached for a piece of pie, mirroring Dinah in a way, "I hope you've found some things that will help. I don't mean just with the Muggle-born Slytherins either, with all of them. I don't remember if I've mentioned this before or not but do you think it would be worth it to do a similar study with half-bloods and pure-bloods?"

"Lucy, you're being depressive," Sirius said. It wasn't harsh, he was just making her aware of how her mood had changed.

She shook her head, "Sorry. I don't know what's with me all of a sudden."

"I'd have to redesign the questions to do a survey of half-bloods or purebloods. But they're viable future options. I have to finish the first one first though."

"Oh, of course. I didn't mean to imply you should do them now. I know those things take time," she shoved the pie around on her plate, taking a couple bites before shoving it away; "I think I'm done."

Sirius's hand came up to feel her forehead, "You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," Lucy said, shaking his hand off, "I've just got things on my mind. Derwent and…things."

"Things? Is there something else going on?" Dinah asked, concerned.

"Oh, I've just been rereading Scrump's fairytales. Voice-ghosts…it's no big deal. I'm just thinking too much. Although," Lucy said, grinning to reassure everyone she was fine, and slipping her hands beneath the table her hand again finding it's way to Sirius's knee, "I was being successfully distracted from my thoughts earlier."

"Clearly," Severus muttered, and when Dinah shot him a questioning glance he narrowed his eyes at her and responded with a firm; "No."

She sighed. "Ah, well, it was worth a shot." She grinned at Lucy and pointed to Severus, "My boyfriend over here can be a real hypocrite when he wants to be."

"And my girlfriend can be annoying," he rolled his eyes, but Dinah's eyes lit up.

Lucy giggled, "At least you'll be allowed to sit on the same side of the table at the Three Broomsticks."

Sirius gasped and blushed slightly when she drew her hand up his thigh, "Lu, could you um, put your hand _back_ on my knee?"

Dinah burst into giggles as Severus turned back to stab at his food with an annoyed expression. "It's nice to see you get flustered, Sirius. That's unusual."

Sirius looked down at his plate, scooping up pie in large quantities. "There are some things I'm going to regret teaching you," he muttered.

Lucy laughed and leaned into him, "Oh, come now. I may not have been very experienced, but I do have a brain and could have figured most of this out on my own."

"Not to mention instincts," Dinah grinned, and Lucy nodded.

"All right. Since it seems everyone is done focusing on food," Severus stood abruptly from his chair; "Shall we get started? No, you do not want another piece of pie!" he told Dinah, who had been gazing longingly at the half-eaten dessert.

Dinah laughed. "All right. I'll wait and have it later."

"We'll split it with you," Lucy offered, "Pie can provide a good deal of distraction." She nuzzled Sirius's ear, blowing on a spot she knew he found particularly sensitive.

He jerked away and left the table, "I'm transforming now. Unless you'd rather keep it up and cause your friends to leave."

Lucy giggled, "No, no. I need Severus on my side at least until after this meeting with Derwent."

"Okay," Dinah stood from the table, pie, and headed for the door, Severus following close after her and Lucy and Sirius trailing behind. When the latter two made it to the door Sirius gave Lucy a peck before transforming into Snuffles.

"Well," Lucy said, looking at the other couple, "I suppose you can lead us wherever you'd like to start."

"Ideally, we will explore the halls around the Potions room, the headmaster's office, and the kitchens. Following that, if we leave via the main doors we should be able to search around for scents, preferably Eugene's or the pomegranate-shampoo scent of the test subject..." Severus paused, thinking. "But if you notice anything earlier we should follow that to completion first."

Snuffles sniffed around the places Severus mentioned. They found Eugene's scent but it only led them to and from places he was expected to be. His room, his office, the DADA classroom. Outside they followed Eugene's scent to the forest, much like they had before. This time though, Snuffles was able to pick up on the pomegranate-shampoo scent of the test subject. The group picked up the pace as they grew more excited to be finally on the trail of something. Unfortunately the trail seemed to end at the lake.

On the shore was a soaked and badly damaged book. Lucy bent to pick it up, using Snuffles for leverage as she did so. "How could someone do this?" she sighed, "I know books get damaged and unusable from wear but to just dump it in the lake…" she leafed through the pages stopping at one in the beginning, "Look here, it was a fairly new copy. It couldn't have been that damaged."

"What book is it?" Dinah leaned over, but there was no way she would be able to make out any of the water-logged words except for the publication date of 1997 where Lucy was pointing on the left.

"Well, this chunk here," Lucy pointed to the smeared and faded words on the right, "is the beginning of "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot" from _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_. A children's…well you probably know."

"Yes, I read them a long time ago when I was at Hogwarts, just to familiarize myself with some of the wizarding traditions. But it's been so long I forgot most of the details of them."

"Is that the headmaster's annotated version?" Severus asked, turning a few pages as if seeking the answer for himself.

"I think so," Lucy nodded, "See here. There's something smudged in the corner. In the places where some of Dumbledore's notes were. I don't get it. Why would the…I mean it has to have been the test subject that left this here, right? Why was it on the shore? If he didn't want anyone to find it why not throw it out farther into the lake?"

"Maybe he didn't care if anyone found it or not," Severus murmured. "Maybe it's not important."

"But it has to be," Dinah protested, "If it's Dumbledore's version then it at least fits with the Dumbledore wizard cards the test subject has been carrying around. Plus it's fairy tales again. Why does everything always come back to fairy tales?"

"Fairy tales are some of the oldest literature there is. They started out as an oral tradition. People tend to use the term to describe something blessed with unusual happiness. You know, a fairy tale ending, and the like. I'd say most fairy tales end happily, though not all do," Lucy murmured, reverting back her knowledge of things in the face of the unknown.

"Oral tradition..." Dinah mused. "I wonder if that's where Scrump got his tales from as well. But not all of his stories ended happily. They were closer to truth. Really, even the happily ending fairy tales in the Muggle world are quite gruesome in parts of the story." She laughed a little; "You know, in the original Cinderella the stepsisters actually cut off their toes and their heel just to try and get the slipper to fit so they could marry the prince..."

"Really?" Lucy asked, turning to Dinah, "Mae didn't mention that."

"Most children aren't told that version. Not anymore. I think the modern day fairy tales in both worlds are a little sugar-coated to fit with the times. Scrump's tales are like those unedited types of fairy tale I guess. They don't hold much back. I don't know about _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_. I can't remember..." she fingered the water-logged book again.

"Most of them are of the sugar-coated variety I'd say. There are two that aren't so nice in some areas, but I'm guessing parents either don't read those or gloss over the facts. In the end the good prosper and the wicked are punished so I suppose that's the main point."

"I suppose so," Dinah agreed, turning back to the book. "Life isn't always so clear-cut though, is it? I sometimes wish it was. For instance, Voldemort was _supposed_ to be destroyed," she sighed, looking at Severus.

"Indeed," he slid an idle hand through her hair, his eyes distant. "But that doesn't mean he can't be again."

"I don't know how to destroy anyone," Dinah shook her head. "But I do wonder if there is something to these fairy tales that will help. The flayed baby is connected to the despair of the test subject. Maybe something in the book is connected to whatever is bothering him, and that's why he tossed it."

"It's possible," Lucy sighed, "Unfortunately this copy is too far gone for you to use and I'm afraid I left mine at Grimmauld Place over Christmas. I was teaching it to my first years," she explained, "Using this and Muggle fairy tales to show how we might be from different backgrounds but we still have the same basic principles."

"That's nice," Dinah smiled a little. "You don't happen to know who might have a copy, do you?"

"Hermione should have a copy. Exactly where she would have it I don't know but most likely it's here. She does like to be prepared for any eventuality."

"Great, I'll ask her. Severus, stop that, she's fine!" she swatted at Severus who was muttering things under his breath. "Of course, I suppose I should check the library first. That's most reasonable."

"That's very Ravenclaw of you," Lucy smirked.

Dinah laughed; "Well, people do tend to cross house boundaries. That's why I wonder about sorting sometimes. Even Severus here is brave enough to be a-"

"Don't say it!" Severus exclaimed, growling a little and leaving Lucy wondering what Dinah had been about to say. "Well, now are we finished here? Because it is rather cold at night and I'm sure we'd all be more comfortable indoors. Besides, you wanted to finish that pie, didn't you?"

"Oh, pie!" Dinah grinned, his mention of food snapping her out of her somewhat gloomy state.

"Mmm, pie," Lucy said, closing her eyes and remembering what had happened to the pie she and Sirius had gotten from Madam Puddifoot's a couple weekends ago. She felt herself blush a bit and stood, "I do like pie."

"I'm guessing she means not to eat," Dinah muttered to Severus.

"Huh?" at her raised eyebrow he flushed and nodded. "Oh! Right... well, can we eat this one, please?"

"Oh the pie gets eaten. Trust me," Lucy teased, after all they did really eat the pie. It was just the dishes and utensils used to eat the pie that were in question.

"Eat it _without_-" Severus growled again and broke off trying to get through to them, instead spinning around and marching off toward the school, not waiting to see if they were following.

"Sorry," Dinah giggled. "He's not used to this topic of conversation. He's more of the...private type, I'm sure you've guessed," she flushed a little.

"Yes, I've noticed," Lucy grinned, "Really I was just trying to push his buttons. It's kind of fun now that we seem to be on equal footing. Who knows I might just eat the pie regularly. I didn't eat much dinner after all."

"Well, glad you're feeling better, at least," Dinah smiled and they all hurried to follow Severus back inside.


	47. Chapter 47

A/N: Alright, I'm all caught up editing back chapters! Don't worry nothing major has changed, just added some description and cleaned up some typos and grammar issues.

* * *

Chapter 47

Lucy sighed, drumming her fingers on her desk and looked across at the two students sitting uneasily across from her. "I'm sorry you two. I'm not sure what's keeping them. It's very unusual for Professor Snape to be late to a meeting. Professor Samson too for that matter."

Amedeus glanced at Derwent. The boys looked disbelieving. She wondered if they'd noticed the change in the other professors' relationship.

She sighed again, "I'm going to go find out what's keeping them. You two stay here." She rose from her seat and left the room. She considered locking the door from the outside to keep the boys in but then talked herself out of it. If they wanted to leave that badly, locking them in wasn't going to do any good.

Lucy hurried down to the dungeons where Dinah and Severus usually ate dinner if they weren't in the Great Hall. She didn't hear the sounds of dinner coming from the other side of the door but she knocked anyway just to be sure they weren't there. It was possible they'd crossed paths without knowing it.

She heard scrambling and Severus shout something before the door was jerked open. Her former Potions Master stood there, shirt undone and his pants obviously tighter than they should have been. Dinah, in turn, was standing there with her shirt open and pushed down her arms, bra on display. She stared for a minute, dumbfounded, before she cleared her throat, "Well, paybacks I guess."

"Um, yeah, sorry," Dinah, her face bright red, shrugged her shirt back into place, looking over at Severus. "I somehow think he's not going to be happy about this when he starts thinking straight again."

"I'm thinking straight," he growled, still glaring at Lucy.

"Are you, really?" Dinah murmured, turning him around and starting to button his shirt back up, a small smile on her face. "You might present a better image to the students if you don't walk out of the dungeons like this..."

His eyes drifted down to her fingers and he flushed. "Ah, perhaps... I wasn't thinking straight after all," he said softly, smiling a little and placing his hand on her wrist, running his thumb back and forth over it as she finished making him presentable again. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome," she kissed him briefly and turned to Lucy, "There. Sorry about being late. It was my fault."

"It's all right," Lucy said, blushing, "I mean, like I said…paybacks. Though Sirius and I have never actually been late for a meeting since it's usually been you coming to us."

Severus sighed. "I suppose revenge shall have to be my consolation for being caught like this. Now, let's get this over with, because we all know how seriously the students take us in these forms."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much," Lucy said, leading the way back to her office, "I'm not sure Amedeus is inclined to take me any more seriously than he would you. I'm not even sure he'll be there when we get back."

"He is quite flighty and impulsive for a Slytherin," Severus muttered agreement. "Even a Muggle-born one."

"I'm not sure that that last part means anything, Severus," Dinah rolled her eyes and he shrugged. They soon arrived at Lucy's office and entered to find Derwent arguing with Amedeus.

"But Amedeus, maybe they can _help_! They're our friends, yes, and we're helping them out with their homework but I'd like to spend time with my girlfriend. Professor Ketteridge practically said Agrona thinks I've dumped her. I know they said she's just a half-blood, practically a…"

"Do you think, Mr. Lympsham, that you should perhaps not refer to your 'girlfriend' by a derogatory term that most would use against yourself?" Severus cut in, his voice raised slightly and his expression agitated.

"Professor Snape!" Derwent squeaked, "I-I didn't mean _I_ thought she was a…well, you know…that's just what they said." The poor boy looked about ready to cry, and stared at his shoes so they couldn't see his face, "They let us hang around them. They're our friends."

"Do you normally make friends of people who insult your girlfriend? You know eventually you'll have to choose, right? You should think about that decision," he sat down in one of the two chairs Lucy had placed next to hers on the other side of the desk from the boys with a firm frown planted on his face and turned to Lucy. "Well? You're the one who called this meeting. Please don't let me steal your thunder."

Dinah smiled and sat down in the remaining chair on the end, sandwiching Severus between herself and Lucy.

"Derwent," Lucy murmured, contrasting Severus's explosion, "Those boys couldn't care less about you. If they liked you at all they wouldn't be asking you to do _all_ their homework. They wouldn't be calling your girlfriend names in front of you. And they certainly wouldn't be encouraging you to drop her because of her blood status. Blood status only matters to the people who think it makes them better than others."

"But you don't understand!" Amedeus shouted.

Derwent nodded and continued in Amedeus's stead, "You don't know what it's like to have _no_ friends. To be ignored by your entire house. It's almost worse than being picked on. At least if they were picking on us then they'd know we existed."

"Yes, being ignored can be the worst thing in the world," Dinah murmured, "Your mind comes up with a million things the other students might be thinking about you behind your back, only you can never tell... because the most you ever hear is whispering. No one can even say things to your face. In some ways neglect is worse than mistreatment."

"Believe it or not you two," Lucy said, placing her hands on the desk, "We were all teens once. Some of us did not enjoy the popularity of Ginny Weasley or Draco Malfoy. Personally I had one friend and two cousins who were here with me. None of them shared my house. It was a lonely existence. Fortunately for me, I was not in Slytherin. I imagine that makes the whole experience a little harder. Which is why I asked Professor Snape to join us."

Severus sighed. "I cannot change all of the dynamics of Slytherin house in one year. It would take many, many years to even begin that."

"But it has to start somewhere," Dinah said, looking at the two boys. "You two could help that. I administered those surveys at the beginning of the year to get an idea of what it's like for Muggle-born students at this school, and being Muggle-born Slytherins you two are in an especially difficult position. You could try making friends of some of the Muggle-born Slytherins in other years. You would be stronger together than separated. I also think you were lucky to meet someone like Miss Huntingdon," she looked at Derwent. "She seems quite unique, especially as she's half-blood."

Derwent smiled as he thought of the girl he'd been mistreating, "Yeah, she's…she makes me happy. She's ambitious, like a lot of Slytherins but it's not about power for her. She wants own a shop of some type and be the best shop around. She wants to be independent of others, to not have to rely on relatives. Her parents are dependent on her Aunt and Uncle for a home and support. They lost everything in the first war. I'm not really sure how or if they were involved with You-Know-Who. They won't talk about it," he sighed and looked at Dinah, "I've screwed up big time with her haven't I? I didn't mean to. I've just had _no_ time…"

"Well," Dinah began, "I'm sure she would forgive you at this point, but it's no good if you keep doing what you've been doing. We need to come up with a solution for this that works best for all parties. What if..." she turned to her right; "Severus, do you think that if you gave the other students bad grades they would stop asking these boys to do their homework for them if they don't think they can do it properly?"

Severus smirked; "Oh yes, and then they can hex these two young Slytherins as punishment. Excellent notion."

"Well, I was only trying to help," she snarled.

"Now, let's stay calm. I think the other students should be punished but I'm not sure that would help these two. Do you think encouraging them to socialize with others outside their house would help? I'm sure Agrona would be willing to help. She's surprisingly well liked outside her house for….well for being a Slytherin."

"More socialization between houses would be a wonderful thing," Dinah said emphatically. "Problem is it's so hard to get people to do it. I wonder if there is some sort of good way to go about it..." she trailed off for a moment, thinking. She shook her head; "Either way, if Agrona does have friends outside of Slytherin you two should spend time with them. She must also have Slytherin friends, more moderate ones. Those are the students that will help to start changing Slytherin house. And if you do that, then not only do you get to spend time with Agrona but you also get to have friends that want to be your friends just because of who you are and not because of what you can do for them."

Finally Amedeus spoke up, "But I like doing their homework. It's challenging and I don't know Agrona. I barely know Derwent. We only started talking when we started doing those kids homework."

Derwent looked at the other boy, "We should have talked long before then. We've had conversations over homework and I like you. You're a crack job at charms. I've thought of you as my friend."

Severus looked a little sickened by all this emotional bonding that was going on but Dinah smiled. "You see? This is what I've been noticing in the surveys. Muggle-born Slytherins tend to keep to themselves, but if you all spent more time with each other you'd not only make friends but you'd also become a force to contend with in the greater dynamics of the house. Um... not that I'm trying to label or generalize you two or anything. "

"Whatever," Severus rolled his eyes. "I'm more concerned with Mr. Flint's comment. I commend your apparent enjoyment of doing seventh-year essays, but I'm afraid if you two keep this up, now that three professors have become aware of the fact that this is happening... well, eventually someone is going to be punished. You should not be doing other students' work. Either it stops or the whole thing is brought out into the open. You_ know_ how bad that could get," he raised his characteristic eyebrow at the two members of his house.

"Yes, sir," Amedeus muttered, "but we can't just say no! And if they start getting bad grades because of us, they'll hex us like you said!"

"Then you tell them that the literature professor has become suspicious of all the papers she's getting that appear to have the same tone."

"That'll only work if they're in your class, Professor," Derwent said, "most of them aren't."

"I can easily do the same thing," Severus murmured. "However, if Eugene were to accidentally 'mess things up'..." he scowled at the mention of who was quickly becoming the group's shared silent antagonist.

"Ah, yes, our friend does present a bit of a problem," Lucy said, "Is there a way we can work around him?"

"Could we stage some sort of intervention?" Dinah suggested as the idea occurred to her. "If one of us were to 'discover' the boys giving Derwent and Amedeus their homework it wouldn't be like anyone told."

Severus shook his head; "I don't know. That many Slytherin boys would be something I could easily take on in my adult form, but like this we'd need at least all three of us present to confront them properly, and the odds of all of us randomly stumbling upon them at once is... low. They would suspect. And if they ever find out that these two told us what's been going on it would be very, _very_ bad."

"I understand what you're saying Severus, and by no means do I wish to put the boys in any danger but it's not exactly unknown that Dinah and I are friends. Perhaps if the three of us were seen together more often it wouldn't seem so odd." Lucy wasn't sure how effective that would be and it would take more time than she wished, but so far it was the best they'd come up with.

He shrugged; "It would take time to properly build that image, but I'm not opposed to it. Meantime, there are small things that can be done to at least discourage this. Changing the natures of our assignments may help. Perhaps we can give these boys a reprieve from essays for a week or so while we work on spending more time together in public. At least that slight decrease in workload would give Mr. Lympsham time to patch things up with Miss Huntingdon," he flushed a little and scowled when everyone was staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing, that's so... nice," Dinah smiled.

"It is simply the most efficient way to solve this problem; it is not 'nice'!" he stood abruptly from his chair. "Oh, and you boys both have detention when this is all through, for having the cheek to even consider assisting others in academic dishonesty. I may let the Quidditch cheating slide, but academics is another story."

Dinah covered her mouth to giggle and Lucy had to join her. The boys, on the other hand groaned at being given detention. "Sorry, boys," she said, "I think the detention is fair. I can do my part and not assign essays for awhile. My grades are mostly based on class discussion anyway."

"Mine as well," Dinah nodded. "For the seventh-years of concern, at any rate. Really, I can't believe you two have been doing this and we haven't noticed. It must take extra effort to try and make all of the essays sound different. You know, you both might have a career in politics someday, writing speeches for all the geniuses that can't come up with them on their own," she laughed.

Amedeus perked up at that, "I've been considering a career in the Ministry. I've applied for internships for the summer."

Lucy grinned, "I'm sure you'll do well there. Now, it's getting late. You should probably return to your common room now. We are going to work on solving this and if something comes up you need to know we'll tell you. Remember though, if you need anything you can always come to one of us."

"But not Grubbly-Plank or Mr. Wilkins," Severus was quick to add. "Especially not Mr. Wilkins. Keep him out of this."

"Yes," Lucy agreed, "Let's not bother them with this. The three of us would be preferable but if we aren't available then I think Professor McGonagall would be a good choice to confide in. Don't you?" she looked over at her fellow professors.

"Perhaps," Severus muttered as Dinah nodded. "If absolutely necessary. Now get out of here," he waved the boys off.

The pair scrambled out of the room, eager to get away from their Head of House.

"Well," Lucy said, "That wasn't too bad. I suppose I should let you get back to…what you were doing before. I appreciate you both helping with this. It means a lot to me."

"Of course," Dinah beamed. "That wasn't so bad after all. Especially you, Severus. You were quite intimidating."

He managed a slight smile; "Well, perhaps it's returning."

Lucy grinned, "I think it might be. Now, I think I might copy you two and go to bed. Too much on my mind has worn me out apparently."

"Copy us?" Dinah teased, her eyes twinkling as she walked over and looped her arm into Severus's. "But how could you seeing as it's not a Wednesday?"

"I thought I was intimidating," Severus murmured, leaning over so that his lips just brushed her hair and making his voice a little lower than normal, as though he was taking to students.

Dinah felt herself flushing again and grinned; "I like intimidating. Well, good night then, Lucy!"

"Night," Lucy responded, not bothering to answer Dinah's question about Wednesday. Exhausted, she locked up her office, made her way to her rooms and buried herself beneath the covers of her bed.


	48. Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Lucy walked hand in hand with Sirius Sunday evening on the way back to Hogwarts. The sun was just starting to set and some students were still milling about the grounds. She highly doubted walking around with her fiancé would do any harm and smiled, leaning into him.

They were both nearly knocked off their feet by a blur of black school robes shouting "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Sirius growled at whoever had run into them while steadying Lucy. She, however, pulled back to look at the girl's face and grinned, "Hello, Agrona."

"Derwent talked to me yesterday. He told me _everything_. He even apologized for the way he'd been acting. You're the first professor I've seen all weekend and I wanted to thank you! I thought I was simply going to _die_ if he didn't talk to me soon. I want to thank Professors Snape and Samson."

"Probably want to avoid hugging Snape," Sirius advised.

Lucy giggled, "Yeah, I don't think he'll take that well."

Agrona blushed, "No, he probably wouldn't." She looked shy as she glanced over at Sirius, "I'm sorry. You're spending time with your fiancé. I forgot you went to see him on the weekends."

"That's all right. He's just walking me back to my rooms. Agrona, this is Sirius. Sirius, Agrona." Lucy introduced them.

They shook hands and Agrona looked back at Lucy, "Thank you again! I'm going to see if I can find Professors Samson and Snape before I have to be back in the Common Room. I've seen them hanging out by the lake sometimes. Bye!"

The girl ran away before Lucy could advise her to wait until she could go to their office hours rather than surprise them doing who knows what.

"The student you mentioned before I take it?"

"One of them. Agrona, Derwent's girlfriend. Derwent would be the one who wasn't talking to her for some unknown reason, which turned out to be that he was doing other students' homework so they'd like him. She's one of my best students. So is he for that matter."

"She seems nice, happy."

Lucy grinned, looking up at Sirius as they started walking again, "She's a Slytherin."

She enjoyed watching his stunned expression before he responded, "You don't usually picture happy, nice, well adjusted Slytherins."

"Well, Agrona is one and I'm hoping she'll turn Derwent into one as well. Maybe Amedeus too. She's even got friends outside of her house. Now," Lucy said, leaning against her door, "are you going to come in or be a gentleman and leave me at the door?"

Sirius grinned, "When have I ever been a gentleman?"

"You've had your moments," she said, drawing him inside.

* * *

Lucy looked up from reading the letter Tonks had sent to see an owl delivering another, just as important letter. Tonks had agreed to her plan, to go along with Lucy, as long as everything was above board and legal. Kingsley's letter would determine if her plans and desire would be allowed. She knew Tonks wasn't thrilled with her wanting to keep this from Sirius for now, which also meant keeping it from Remus. Honestly though, it wasn't as if it was going to be _dangerous_.

She quickly read through Kingsley's letter. He agreed to allow her to do as she wished with the condition that she be accompanied by an actual employee of the Ministry but that, he said, appeared to be covered as she had mentioned Tonks was willing to come with her. She quickly sent off replies to both Tonks and Kingsley before leaning back and sighing.

This wasn't exactly something she wanted to do but…it had to be done, that much she was sure of. Now she just had one more stop to make. She wanted to talk to someone, to have them understand. Besides, she was sure she was going to need someone around when she came back. Someone who could be here at Hogwarts because Lucy couldn't take time away from her classes right now.

Picking up Dora she sighed and cuddled that cat against her shoulder. "You want to go for a visit?" The cat purred and rubbed against Lucy's face. "Well, I take that as a yes. Come on, let's go see if Godric's home."

There appeared to be light coming out from beneath Dinah's door so Lucy took that as a sign she was at least inside for a few minutes and knocked.

When the door opened she was greeted by a rat sitting on Dinah's head. "Hi!" the other professor greeted enthusiastically.

"Um, hi. Did you know there's a rat on your head?" she asked, gripping Dora in case she decided to leap for the critter.

Dinah burst into giggles, "Oh, that's just Helga. Don't worry; she'll stay there until I take her off. Rats are very intelligent. Although I guess as a fox she might look tasty to you, right?" she joked.

"Yeah," Lucy grinned, "I've never been partial to rat myself. You might have to watch her around Sirius though. I think he lived on rats for awhile before he started staying at Grimmauld Place. He ate them as Snuffles of course."

"Of course," Dinah grinned back and stepped aside to allow Lucy access. "Come on in. It's just me and the survey data tonight. Severus has a meeting with Eugene; you know how much he loves those."

"I bet he'll be in a wonderful mood later then," Lucy teased, coming in and sitting in a chair, "How's the survey coming?" She was skirting the issue she knew, but she didn't want to just burst in and dump everything on Dinah at once.

"Great!" she answered, plopping down on the couch and turning the computer so Lucy could see the screen, where she had a funny looking picture showing. "See, as expected more people are told with an increase in the students' age! Also, would you believe that Gryffindors are the most likely house to have had some Muggle they accidentally performed magic in front of _Obliviated _by the Ministry? That house may be courageous, but they're definitely rash!"

"Yes, they can be if Sirius is anything to go by," Lucy murmured, letting Dora settle into her lap. The cat eyed Dinah's rat but made no move to leave her comfortable spot. "Listen about Sirius…"

"Is everything going okay?" Dinah asked.

"Mostly, yes. There's something I have to do," Lucy looked all over, not making eye contact with Dinah, "I don't want Sirius to know until _after _I've come back. I don't know. I might need your help. You have to help, it's all your fault I'm doing this," she smiled slightly to take the sting out of words she hadn't meant to sound accusing.

"All my fault?" Dinah repeated. "Why? What have I done?"

"Oh, just introduced me to those fairy tales and encouraged me to read the first one again. It's probably a good thing though. I-I don't really want to do this but it's all set and it's time, you know? It's just time."

Dinah shook her head; "Lucy, I'm still confused. Do what? Time for what? You mean the fairytale about the girl forgiving her stepmother?"

"Yes, that fairy tale. I think it's time I go to the Department of Mysteries. I'd rather go alone but that's just not going to be possible. Kingsley's okayed it and Tonks has agreed to go with me. She's pissed but she's going."

"Wait... that's where Sirius was killed, right? In the Department of Mysteries? And that fairytale? You think you need to forgive Bellatrix Lestrange for what she did to him?" Dinah was starting to look less confused.

Lucy nodded, glad her friend seemed to understand, "Yes, that's where he died. I think trying to forgive her is the only way to go. I'd rather not wait until I start to see her. No," Lucy shook her head, "no. I really don't want to see her. I don't want him to know. If he knows he won't want me to go or he'll want to go with me and I think this is something I need to do on my own. It's sweet and I appreciate him worrying about me but I want to go by myself. I don't want to force him into go before he's ready either. If he wants to go he should when it's his time and not just because he's worried about me."

"Forgiveness might be the best option," Dinah nodded. "At least it would take care of one of the crazy things hanging around during these dark storms," she sighed. "But you don't want to hear about that. Are you really sure you've thought this through? That it's okay not to tell Sirius? I'm only saying so because when I've kept things like that from Severus I've always felt horribly guilty. That said, I think sometimes we do have to do things on our own. I'm not trying to discourage you, I just... want to make sure you've made the right decision."

Lucy sighed, "I plan to tell him after. I just want some time to deal with whatever I need to deal with, to process things. I don't think I can do that with him around worrying that I'm going to have a breakdown. I was hoping you'd understand. Tonks doesn't. I don't expect people to agree with me but I need someone to understand. I _need_ to do this on my own. I used to do things by myself all the time. Did you know I went to Turkey on a mission for the Order, alone? I want to be able to do things like that again. I don't want to hear her anymore and if that means trying to find ways to forgive her then so be it."

"I'll try to understand then. As long as there's no danger involved in this, and there shouldn't be, and you tell him you went right away, then I think you're fine. As for the forgiveness part, you're already halfway there, I think," Dinah smiled. "You were the one that said she was redeemable because she could love. Just take that feeling and go with it. Try to imagine what it must have been like to be her. Try to find something that you can relate to. I know it isn't easy and can often be difficult, but I think it can be done. Sirius knew her as a child, didn't he? Do you know anything about her home life?"

She shook her head, "No, not really. Nothing more than she was just as obsessed with blood status as the rest of the family, excepting Andromeda of course. I know there was good in her somewhere but that's going to be really hard to find. She changed my life and that makes me feel selfish. That makes me upset and I just…I'm so angry about everything that happened because of what she did that I don't look beyond myself. Tonks lost her cousin, Remus lost his best friend, Harry lost his godfather and all I can ever think about is how it affected me."

"I think it's normal to have a bit of selfishness within all of us," Dinah murmured, "The best thing to do is to find the right balance for you. We have to think about ourselves, but we also have to think about others. That can get hard and... conflicting at times..."

"Yeah. I mean I don't want to lie and sneak around Sirius but I feel like if I don't he won't let me go alone. I know he's nothing but good intentions, at least when it comes to me, but sometimes…"

"We have to forgive our men, I guess. They're always torn between protecting us and giving us the respect and autonomy we need as equals... it must be a challenging role."

That got Lucy to laugh, "It must be. Oh Merlin, I almost can't wait to see what he's like when I'm preg…" Lucy stopped and blushed, realizing where her mind was starting to go.

Dinah smiled, "That will be a sight to see, I'm sure." When Lucy just smiled and didn't reply Dinah continued; "Oh, by the way, Agrona Huntingdon found Severus and I out by the lake yesterday. She thanked us for everything we've been doing with Derwent. It was quite nice, except that she now knows that Severus and I are involved..."

Lucy covered her mouth to hide her giggles, "Oh my. I think I would have liked to see your faces then. She actually ran into me and Sirius on our way back to my rooms. Nearly hugged me to death and thanked us profusely. She said she was going to try and find you by the lake. I tried to catch her before she ran off again but then I figured you two wouldn't be doing anything _to_ embarrassing outside where anyone would come across you."

"Well, people don't usually come to the lake," Dinah muttered, feeling her cheeks grow pink. "I guess we thought we were safe. We were just practicing dueling together – you know just in case I have to face something because of my prophecy – and things wound up a little heated. We were just kissing, but... well, yeah... Agrona narrowly escaped detention about twelve times."

Lucy blushed too, "Yes, similar things are what led to you walking in on me with Sirius's hands being the only thing keeping me decent not too long ago. I know how it goes. I'm glad Agrona didn't end up with detention though. She's really sweet, not at all what I would expect from most Slytherins." She glanced down as Dora hopped from her lap to circle around Dinah's couch before settling herself next to Godric.

"It's true, I was thinking the same thing yesterday," Dinah agreed. "So is there anything else you needed to tell me? When are you actually going to the Ministry then? You said you might need my help. Was it just to tell me so that I understood or...?" she trailed off.

"Oh, well, I was planning on going next Tuesday evening. I don't want this hanging over my head during Easter break. Obviously if I'm not telling Sirius I can't go on a weekend or Wednesday and I don't want to miss all my classes and force Dumbledore to look for yet another substitute. The thing is…I was wondering…do you think you might check on me on that Wednesday? I just, I don't know how I'm going to react and I'm afraid I'm going to get all zombie crazy lady."

"Oh, I see," Dinah said softly, "You mean in the morning before Sirius arrives?"

Lucy nodded, wringing her hands in a nervous gesture, "If you wouldn't mind. Maybe during the day too, depending…" She kept her eyes on the ground, embarrassed that Dinah had witnessed her behavior not too long ago, but grateful she'd been there all the same.

"Of course I will. That's not a problem at all," Dinah insisted. "And you know if you need to talk you can always come here too, right? You're welcome any time, and in the dungeons too I'm sure... well, as long as you knock first," she flushed a little.

"Yes, thank you. And don't worry knowing what you're probably doing in there and my desire to not see Severus's bare bottom, or yours for that matter, will most likely ensure knocking first."

Dinah laughed; "Good. And for what it's worth you do realize that that time you had told us to just 'come in'."

Lucy blushed, "I honestly don't know what got into me. I _knew_ it was a possibility you'd be coming over. It's just he does this thing with his tongue," she covered the spot on her neck, slightly bruised from Sirius doing that thing with his tongue and then nipping a little harder than intended, "and I sort of got carried away. So did he."

Dinah laughed and rolled her eyes; "You two are honestly the king and queen of too much information, did you know that?"

She grinned, feeling her cheeks heat up again, "It was on my neck, woman!" she pointed to the spot on her neck she'd been covering. "Really, you should be glad you don't know Tonks. She gave me rather detailed descriptions of Remus and the things they did…"

"Can we change the subject?" Dinah asked suddenly, shifting in her seat, "I imagine talking about things that you can't do right now must be tormenting you as much as it is me. Wouldn't we both be happier distracting ourselves?"

Lucy sighed, remembering the times at Grimmauld Place after their first kiss, when they'd engaged in some pretty heavy make out sessions but couldn't do much else with the Weasley's in residence. Especially as she had been sharing a room with Ginny and Hermione. Like Dinah, she shifted around in her seat, remembering the things Sirius had taught her about men and women that year. She blushed deeper and cleared her throat, "Um, yeah, we should. So, anything in particular you'd like to talk about?"

Dinah smiled; "Well, I've got all evening pretty much. Want to watch a film? Or I could show you the internet this time! Or both, even."

"Oooh both! Dad's going to be so jealous," Lucy grinned, excited.

"'Dad'?" Dinah blinked, confused. "I thought you and your father didn't get along."

"Sorry," Lucy said, shaking her head, "My father and I don't get along. Henley is my father. Arthur's my dad. He and Molly both are like my parents. She could never replace my Mum and she's never tried. She gets it but Arthur's been my Dad where I needed one. I don't call him dad often but if you hear me say something about my dad I mean Arthur."

"Oh," Dinah smiled; "Well, that's very nice. I liked him a lot when I met him. Very curious about the Muggle world... almost amusingly so, he seemed."

Lucy grinned, "Yeah, he's fun. Aunt Molly finds him exasperating at times but he's a good man. The Weasleys in general are a rather tight lot, even Percy now that he's come to his senses."

"That's nice," Dinah nodded. "I had heard that he was working very closely with Minister Fudge and later Scrimgeour during the second war, making bad choices along with them..."

"Yes, he was…wait, how did you know about that?" Lucy asked. That didn't seem like something Dinah would have casually picked up since being at Hogwarts and she certainly wouldn't have heard of that in the Muggle world.

She grinned; "A few days ago Severus sat me down and told me_ everything_ that had happened in the second war. Pretty much all the details since Harry Potter first came to Hogwarts and Voldemort started making things happen. He thought it was important since I have things that I may have to face as well. I must admit I feel very well-informed now. Probably for the first time in my life."

"Everything?" Lucy asked, worried. Severus wouldn't have betrayed her like that, would he? She had known he wasn't her biggest fan back then but she thought he was her friend now. She couldn't…Dinah _couldn't_ know. Lucy couldn't bear having her friend know that secret, but how could she ask without revealing… "Even about what happened after Sirius…about what I…?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Dinah frowned. "He said you went through a really hard time and spent a lot of it in that zombie state and that it was disturbing to see, even then. Because he was definitely disturbed last time; but he had told me that when it happened to you, and I had seen that already, so... well, I'm really sorry you had to go through with that. But Sirius is alive now and I am one-hundred percent certain that he is going to stay that way. I won't bring it up again if you don't want me to."

Lucy sighed. He'd kept her secret after all it seemed. She'd have to thank him for that if she got the chance. "Thanks. I don't like that that's how I reacted to everything and it's not pleasant to think about so I try to avoid dwelling on it."

"I can understand that," Dinah smiled. "Well, I think you'll be okay on this trip. But if you need anything just let me know and I'll check on you on Wednesday. Ready to learn some more about Muggle technology then?" she turned her computer around again with a grin.

"Yes!" Lucy said, moving so she sat next to Dinah and could get a better view of the computer.


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

"Mmmm," Lucy purred later, stretching out on top of Sirius, their wet hair probably soaking her sheets.

"Enjoy your shower?" he wondered, eyes closed, letting one of his fingers trail up and down her back.

"Yes. I'm much more relaxed" she said softly, her eyes also closed. She grinned before letting her tongue snake out and lick his chest before retreating back to its home. She felt him stir against her and her smile grew, "You still seem a bit tense though."

"Nearly always am around you."

"Hmm," she hummed, turning her head to look at his face. "Let's see what I can do about that, shall we?"

* * *

By Thursday morning the marks on Lucy's neck were clearly visible and a regular robe just wouldn't hide them. In desperation she tugged on the type of top she hated most to wear under her robes, a turtleneck. She always felt like the bloody things were trying to choke her to death but today she had no choice but to wear one.

Sirius chuckled from the bed, where he lay, watching her dress.

"What?" Lucy asked.

"I know what turtlenecks mean," was all he said.

"Yes, they mean my fiancé has no self-control."

"I don't recall you having much self-control last night either," he teased.

She picked up a pillow off the chair in the corner and threw it at him. "You better be back in Hogsmeade by the time breakfast is over," she came over and kissed him briefly, "You're not supposed to be here now. I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

Lucy tugged at the neck of the only other turtleneck she owned. Luckily it was Friday and she wouldn't have to worry about students seeing her neck tomorrow.

"…and so you see Regulus was really a rather amazing boy, not so horrible as he's been made out to be by some who don't know the whole story," Slughorn finished.

She sighed. She was glad the professor was back to his old self but did he really have to be that self next to her at the dinner table. The amount of attention he demanded made it hard to even eat. She smiled when she looked up to see Dinah had made her way over to this side of the table.

"Hi," Dinah smiled, apparently taking enjoyment from the situation Lucy found herself in.

"Dinah!" Slughorn exclaimed before Lucy had a chance to open her mouth; "So nice to see you! You seem to be so much more comfortable in your adolescent body now!" A few of the surrounding professors turned and looked at her when he spoke.

"Um... yes," she fidgeted, "Do you mind if I steal Lucy from you? It's kind of important."

Lucy almost fainted with relief at her friend's request. It seemed some higher power was granting her a reprieve tonight.

"Oh, no matter, no matter," he waved her off and stood. "I was just heading back to my rooms anyway. You may take my seat if you like."

"Thanks," she nodded at him in way of farewell and sat down in his chair, shooting Lucy a grin and a roll of her eyes.

"Thank you!" Lucy groaned, "I was afraid he was going to launch into another tale about how wonderful Regulus was. That's Sirius's brother in case you didn't know. I do think his contribution to the first war was commendable but really there's only so many times I can listen to it."

"Yes, I'd heard about it," Dinah beamed, "Anyway, Severus and I thought we should all go to the library together today. You know? That is, if you have a little bit of time. I know it's your weekend with Sirius and all but we haven't got a chance to do so yet."

"Oh, sure! I'm better about not having to rush off straight after classes are done. Maybe I'll get a bit more reading about the Department of Mysteries in while we're there." She hoped reading about the department, or as much as was available to read about it anyway, and the room with the arch would help her to handle things as best she could.

"Great! I'll let Severus know and we can leave after dinner," Dinah returned to her side of the table leaving Lucy to finish up and go back to her room and gather her things before heading to the library entrance, waiting for her friends to arrive.

When Dinah and Severus showed up Lucy was tugging on the neck of her shirt again. Was it really necessary for the thing to cut off her supply of oxygen? She was going to have to exact some sort of revenge on Sirius for this.

"Everything okay there?" Dinah asked, pointing at her neck with a small smile.

"No. I hate turtlenecks," she said, tugging at the neckline some more. With the amount of time she'd spent tugging at the shirt she was surprised it hadn't loosened more than the fraction it had.

"Then why, may I ask, are you wearing one?" Severus rolled his eyes as they walked into the library and began searching for a table.

"Because of this stupid thing," she pulled down the neck of the shirt as far as she could to reveal the largest and most obvious of the love bites she'd received two days ago.

Severus visibly winced and jumped back, groaning and rubbing his forehead as he pulled back a chair at the table they had gravitated towards. "_Why_ did I have to ask?"

"I told you they're always too much information," Dinah muttered, sliding into the chair next to him. She couldn't help but laugh though, and shook her head at Lucy; "Lucy, Lucy... you really must learn to be more discreet. I'm_ sure_ some kind of spell or potion could have taken care of that. And doesn't your hair cover it anyway without the turtleneck?"

Lucy considered that and pulled out a chair across from them, "I'm sure my hair could have covered it but there's no guarantee it would have stayed covered. Besides that's not the only one, just the most obvious. Had I stopped and thought about it I'm sure a spell or potion would have been the better option. Unfortunately I was distracted and the turtleneck was the first thing that came to mind."

Dinah chuckled. "Well, I suppose you'll have to deal with it at least until you go back to your rooms, then. I didn't realize you had such... rough tendencies. I'm more partial to tongues than teeth myself. Then again, a little nibbling now and then can be quite fun."

"Dinah!" Severus exclaimed, his face beet red and his glare dark enough to send the first years in the library screaming back to their common rooms if they saw it; "Shut... up!"

She flushed; "Uh, sorry, darling. Lucy's contagious, it seems."

"I hate women," Severus grumbled, opening up a book and glaring down at the pages.

Lucy grinned, blushing as well, "Judging by Dinah's comments I doubt that. I do have a limit regarding how rough things get, and frankly Sirius's limit is in about the same place. Everyone has a limit between pleasure and pain it's just a matter of finding it." She paused to roll her eyes at Severus, whose face had gone farther into the book the more she'd talked. "Really Severus, if you want this to go over at all we should probably appear to be enjoying each other's company."

"I will enjoy each other's company as soon as each other changes the subject," he muttered.

"Somehow, that doesn't sound grammatically correct," Dinah smiled, giving his shoulder a quick squeeze. "Anyway, what say we talk about something else before he melts into the book? Did you need help finding something to read on the... subject matter at hand?"

"What are you two talking about?" Severus lifted his head to shoot them both an odd look.

"Um," Lucy hesitated, chewing on her lip and looking away before finally turning back to them and explaining. "I'm going to the Department of Mysteries Tuesday. I've been reading up on it and the…the room, trying to prepare myself. I'm not particularly looking forward to it but, as I told Dinah, it's time to put it behind me and let it go."

"I see. Then the books you're likely looking for are in the restricted section. I wasn't there on that day... I was being... detained," he rolled his eyes.

"Ah, right. Umbridge. I occasionally had to deal with her at the Ministry but thankfully not often." She tapped the books she'd brought in with her, "I've already checked out a couple of those restricted section books you're referring to, but thanks just the same. I understand you told Dinah….everything about Harry's years here? Caught her up with what's been going on?"

"Yes. She needed to know for the sake of her own prophecy. Plus it was... nice to finally have somebody know all of the things that happened to me during those years. Except it only makes me wish she had been there more," he said, flashing Dinah a smile.

She smiled back, "I'm glad I know your history, too. It helps me understand you more."

Lucy sighed. No indication he'd said anything about Lucy's past and she was sure if he'd told Dinah that thing she didn't want anyone to know she would have brought it up by now. "I'm glad." For a moment she almost considered telling Sirius…no. No, she couldn't tell him and have him look at her like everyone who'd been there at the time had. She didn't think she could survive that. She quickly opened up one of her books, only to be confronted with the image of someone falling through that veiled archway.

"Lucy?" Dinah stood quickly, "Are you all right?" she gently placed her hand over the image on the page.

Lucy looked up at her teenage friend, "Yes," she murmured, "I'm just…I'm suddenly not so sure I can do this." She bit her lip, a nervous habit she knew Sirius found adorable, "I told you Tonks was coming. She was there. I've heard it before. I asked her to tell me again, but I…I don't know."

"It has to be your decision," Dinah said gently, then leaned down and lifted her hand so just she could see the picture. "It's not so bad, really. That old magic still reached him there. He fell into the veil but he was protected. He came back."

Lucy nodded, glad she had friends who understood but still looked for the positive. "You're right. He did come back. I might not want to do this but I _need_ to. From this point on the longer I wait the harder it's going to be to go and I don't want this to turn into something I avoid for the next twenty years. Oh!" she gasped, realizing what she'd said, "I didn't mean it like that Dinah! I'm sorry."

Dinah took a small step back, letting her hand slip from the page. "No, I know you didn't. It's fine," she offered Lucy a strained smile. "It's true, you definitely don't want that. No one wants that. I-"

"Dinah, maybe we should-" Severus began, but stopped when a large owl appeared over their heads, dropping a note down onto the table. He reached across and looked at it, then sighed. "The headmaster wants us to meet him in his office right now. Emergency meeting, apparently. Perhaps he's come up with something."

"Oh. Good," she let out a breath and turned back to Lucy. "Are you okay if we leave now? Sorry about that... prophecy and everything... kind of important..." she was sort of trailing off in a mumble now.

Lucy nodded, worried about Dinah's reaction but glad she hadn't offended her friend, "Yes, I think so," she closed the book, "I'll just leave this until Monday, head into Hogsmeade. Figure out a way to put this from my mind and not make Sirius suspicious something's going on…"

"Okay. Best of luck to you," Dinah smiled, and they bid Lucy farewell before heading upstairs to the headmaster's office.

* * *

Sitting next Tonks on the bottom most stone pier in the Death Chamber Lucy concentrated on breathing. Tonks hadn't been thrilled about bringing her friend to that room inside the Department of Mysteries but Lucy could feel her arm around her shoulders now, rubbing her arm in a soothing manner.

"I fired a Stunning Spell at Malfoy senior. Pretty spectacular if I do say so myself. I spent most of the rest of the battle dueling with Bellatrix but I did see Harry and Sirius fighting with Dolohov. I'm afraid Bella managed to knock me out so I didn't see the rest of what happened. I know Sirius and Bella dueled. Dumbledore came but you know Sirius and Bella was just as determined. They both wanted to finish whatever it was that was between them. A contest, a rivalry. Something must have distracted him because I can't imagine any other way Bella would have got the drop on him. She hit him with a curse and he fell through the veil…"

Lucy sniffed, her eyes shifting around the room as Tonks pointed out the places were everything had happened.

"Remus was amazing after. I don't know how he held it together. He had to be strong for Harry, me," she paused and looked at Lucy, "for you. He's always liked you you know. He used to tell me what a tempering influence you were on Sirius. I told him he was completely nutters and you weren't as proper as he thought you were."

"Thank you," Lucy said, leaning against her friend, "I know you didn't want to do this but it was important. I needed to come here, to see…"

"I know," she whispered, wiping tears from Lucy's face, "but Sirius should have been here."

Lucy shook her head, "No. He would have spent his time here worrying about me and all I'd have been doing would have been worrying about him worrying about me. I needed to do this without him." She paused for a moment, listening to the murmurs filling the room, "What is that?"

"The voices," Tonks said softly, "They're people who've gone beyond the veil."

"They sound peaceful."

Tonks nodded, "Yes, they do. I like to think that that's what it was like for Sirius. He didn't _want_ to die, to leave us, you, behind, to cause us pain, but he _was_ willing to die to protect all of us. You and Harry most. As long as the two of you were safe he'd have given up anything, probably still would. I know Bella really screwed with you but Lucy, he wasn't in pain. If those voices are anything to go by he was at peace."

"Oh," Lucy said, never having looked at it that way before, "that's nice."

"Yeah," Tonks said, hugging her, "it is. You ready to go? We can stay as long as you want. I don't want to rush you now that we're here."

"No," Lucy stood, "we can go. I'm done here."

"Lucy? I'm sure this isn't the first time you've heard this, but he came back for you. Remus, me, Harry, we didn't need him. We missed him and wanted him back, but we didn't need him. You did."


	50. Chapter 50

A/N: Chapter 50! This only about half as long as The Serpents' Kiss but that's okay I still feel accomplished. This is the longest piece I've ever written and it's helped me to grow as a writer. Thanks so much for your reviews so far and I hope they keep coming!

Chapter 50

Rather than going to breakfast in the Great Hall on Wednesday Lucy decided to have it sent up to her office. She was eating and she didn't feel like she had before, as if that coma-like state was coming back. No, Lucy was just sad. It was a weird kind of sadness. She didn't feel like crying and it wasn't the same as when her mum or Sirius had died. It almost felt like some sort of healing sadness.

Lucy looked up from her barely touched meal, when someone knocked on her open office door. "Oh. Hi, Dinah," she'd almost forgotten she'd asked her friend to stop by and check on her.

"Hey," Dinah smiled and stepped inside, wandering over to the desk; "How did it go yesterday?"

"Not nearly as bad as I thought it would," Lucy said forcing a small smile, "Did you know you can hear the voices, whispers, of the people beyond the veil? Or I could anyway, Tonks too. They sounded peaceful."

Dinah nodded, still smiling; "I had heard that before. That's a good thing. I'm glad. You sound like it turned out okay. But you still look a little upset..." she trailed off.

"Yeah, but its okay," Lucy sniffed, taking a tissue from the box she'd placed on her desk earlier. "It's just now that I've been there and I've heard and seen…she didn't torture him. He wasn't in pain. He got distracted and she got inside. He fell through the veil and that was it. I've just held on to this for so long that it's almost a part of me and I don't know how to let go. I'm trying. It's always sad when you have to let a part of yourself go, but in this case it's a good sadness I think."

Dinah nodded, walking around the desk and giving Lucy's shoulder a comforting squeeze; "Yes, I can understand that. It will get better. Moving on from something...it's always difficult. Sometimes we spend so much of our lives attached to something it's like we don't remember what it was like without that attachment..."

Lucy nodded, "Yes, exactly. I suppose I do have something I can thank Bellatrix for though," she shrugged, "I didn't know I loved him until he was gone and I don't know how long it would have taken me to realize that otherwise."

She smiled. "Yeah. We never know how that's going to work out, do we? How we find out we love somebody. I think I loved Severus long before I knew I did. It's weird when you can feel something but not know that you feel it."

Lucy grinned for real this time and took a few bites of her breakfast, "I should have known it was something more than a little flirtation when I let him teach me how to…" she blushed, "never mind."

Dinah laughed; "Well, I can't blame you. These days everybody's been conditioned not to make the connection anymore. You know, between love and sex. Really, I mean sex without love is fun, but when you do love the person it's so much better!"

Lucy giggled, feeling better even though the sadness was still lingering at the edges, "I wouldn't know. Truthfully the main reason we engaged in the…extra-curriculars, if you will, was because I refused to have sex before marriage. However, we were both extremely attracted to each other and rather frustrated…that was probably too much information again, sorry."

She grinned; "It's all right. For what it's worth, I _thought_ that I loved Dylan at the time. But now that I have real love to compare it to..."

"_That_ I know something about. I thought I loved Gawain, but that couldn't come close to how I feel about Sirius. Oh, Dinah if you could have been a fly on the wall during the time the Order used Grimmauld Place as headquarters…"

Dinah flushed; "I don't know how I feel about that one," she laughed. "Except maybe for the times Severus was there. Okay, this is a dumb question but I just thought of it...are you getting used to us like this? Do you remember what we used to look like? Sometimes I feel like I don't..."

Lucy considered for a moment, "Yes, I'm used to what you look like now. I remember Severus more clearly but I've known him longer. It's not too hard to remember though. See?" She showed her friend a picture she wasn't sure Dinah knew had been taken. The three of them were all bundled up for the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff match and from the look of it Dinah and Lucy were having a good time. "Dennis Creevy gave this to me not long after the match. I understand his brother, Colin, used to take pictures all the time. He died in the final battle."

"Oh my..." Dinah reached for the picture and took it carefully into her hands. "Wow..." she reached for Lucy's tissue box, "I mean, I guess it's silly of me to be so shocked. I mean I know what I used to look like, right? I have old pictures in my rooms, for goodness sake. And Severus...he doesn't really have any pictures of himself but there's the portrait in the headmaster's office. The unmoving one since they're both alive still...but I never...you know, this is the only picture I've ever seen of both of us together. Not that we're really doing anything together..." she wiped her eyes and crumpled up the tissue. "Sorry. Fine now. This is just...wow."

Lucy grinned and lifted one shoulder, "Take it," she offered.

"Really? I can?" She looked hopeful, clutching the edges of the picture, "Can I really keep this? I bet we can make a copy somehow so we both have one."

Lucy nodded, "Sure you can. I've had it for awhile now and it's reminded me that I'm not alone here in times when I needed that reminder. I don't find myself needing it so much anymore, but if we can get a copy made I'd appreciate it."

"Okay. Let's try and do that soon. I bet we can have it done in Diagon Alley. Maybe over the summer if we're all still…yeah, well, you know. All this weird stuff that's been happening. I just hope I can get through it, that's all," she took one last look at the picture and stuffed it into her dress pocket.

"I'm sure we can," Lucy said reassuringly and stood, "Unfortunately I now have to go teach my fifth years instead of dwell on what I'm going to tell Sirius about last night."

"Good luck. I'm sure it will be okay, since you're still in one piece. Even if he's mad, you'll work it out. Severus and I did when there was something I was keeping from him..." she shrugged. "Thanks again for the picture. I'm really glad we were able to become friends this year."

"Me too. It's probably kept me from going into a coma-like state, or at least kept me from doing it much," she said, walking to her door.

"Good," Dinah smiled and nodded. "Speaking of which, did you need me to check on you again today? I think you mentioned you might when you asked me before..."

Lucy shook her head, "I don't think so. I mean you can if you want but I think I'll be fine. Thanks."

"Okay, just checking," she grinned. "See you at meals or tomorrow then? We should spend some time in the library tomorrow. I think some of the boys noticed us when we were there on Monday."

"Yes," Lucy nodded, "Of course. Just let me know when you want to meet and I'll be there."

"Sure. I'll let you know after I talk it over with Severus," Dinah smiled and bid her good-bye.

* * *

Lucy sat on the couch, picking at her dinner and occasionally blowing her nose, when Sirius arrived.

"What's wrong?" he asked, rushing around the couch and looking at her as if he expected her to say someone had died or she was injured.

She shook her head and mumbled, "Nothing," continuing to pick at her food.

Sirius took her cold, uneaten food from her and sat it on the coffee table, settling next to her on the couch and pulling her into his lap. "Have you been hearing Bella again? There wasn't a storm in Hogsmeade but…"

Lucy shook her head, "No. No. Tell me, what was it like when you were….were dead?"

"That doesn't matter," he said, playing with her hair, "Don't think about it. It's doing nothing but making you sad."

"No," Lucy insisted, "It won't. Well, maybe, but its okay. I _want_ to know. I…I went to the Department of Mysteries last night. Tonks went with me; she had to, it was required by Kingsley. I saw the room…Tonks told me how it happened. I heard the voices."

"Voices?"

"The people beyond the veil. They sounded…peaceful. That's why I want to know. Was it…were you…?"

"Oh," he said. Lucy was slightly surprised he didn't lecture her about going there without him, or even telling him about it, but maybe Tonks being there made him feel better about it. "Well," he said, shifting to a more comfortable position, "I was there before I even realized what happened. It didn't hurt. It was, as you said, a peaceful place. It was grey at first. Eventually I found James and Lily there. It was comforting to have them there."

Lucy sniffed and wiped her face on his shoulder, "You weren't alone. That's nice."

"Yeah, it was. There was something different about me. We didn't know what it was but looking back I suppose it was the protection I'd been granted. Remus had it too when he joined us. It was fun, having the four of us together again. Then suddenly I was back in the room where I'd died. It was disconcerting at first but once I'd sort of figured out what had happened I headed straight for Hogwarts…and you," he grinned.

Lucy snuggled in, "I'm glad. Tonks said, well she thought, you must have been okay. She said you didn't want to die, but you were willing to as long as it meant Harry and I were safe."

"She's right. I did it then and I'd do it now."

She looked up and grinned, "Did you know you loved me then?"

He sighed and hugged her, "Yes. What did you think I wanted to talk to you about when you came back from that mission? Dating? If that was all I wanted I could have asked before you left. Plus I needed time to figure out how you were going to react, how you felt, even if you didn't quite know yourself."

"I didn't know, not until after…that made it harder I think, but I'm glad I know now."

"If that's all you wanted to know, then why were you crying when I came in?"

Lucy shrugged, "I was sad. I've been holding on to this idea that Bella hurt you, caused you pain…it's hard to let that go."

"She wasn't a nice person and was more than willing to torture people. Given the chance she probably would have loved to use _Crucio_ on me, but she didn't get the chance. I believe she's well and truly paying for her transgressions now."

Lucy shuddered, "At some point she's got to have paid for them in full. I…I almost pity her. She loved Voldemort and he didn't even notice her, not like she wanted him to. She had what was probably a loveless marriage, her sisters were not nearly as fanatic as she was…"

"You almost sound like you've forgiven her."

She shook her head, "No, not yet, but I'm working on it."

* * *

Thursday evening found Lucy sitting all alone at her end of the table. The seat Slughorn usually occupied and the one next to it were empty tonight and didn't look like they were going to be filled.

"So," Dinah's voice said, as she and Severus slid into the empty seats, surprising Lucy, ""I hear you gave Gryffindor and Hermione Granger ten points today."

The comment had been directed at Severus but Lucy looked over at him in shock, "_You_ gave points to Gryffindor and Hermione? I may faint," she said, putting the back of her hand on her forehead and pretending to faint.

Severus flushed and piled his plate with bread; "I did? Well... I suppose I was distracted. Besides, it's not as though I won't balance it out by taking some away later, right?" he turned and smiled at Dinah.

Lucy watched as Dinah blushed. She was a bit disturbed at the way Severus was smiling all the time.

"Yes, but you'll still always be ten points ahead of where you'd be if you never gave them," Dinah giggled, and he sighed. She turned towards Lucy, ""Hope you don't mind if we sit here. We were thinking we hadn't done nearly enough hanging out recently. Both for...certain reasons and just because we enjoy your company."

"Oh, sure! I like your company too, even if certain ones of us are currently all smiley and weird," she grinned, "Do you know what you're going to be doing for Easter week? We were planning on staying at Hogwarts for most of the week since some students are staying over break but we've been invited to the Burrow and it'll be the first time we've seen everybody since the engagement…"

"You should go there for some of the time, at least," Dinah smiled. "I'm going to visit my family in London, but just towards the end of break around actual Easter. It'll be my first time seeing them as an adolescent, so it'll probably be kind of weird, but Severus has agreed to come with me, so..."

"That'll be nice! Meeting the parents for the first time, huh? That's a big step. I suppose that's one good thing about having three out of four parents gone and not being on speaking terms with the fourth. No having to meet the parents. Of course, Sirius does still have to deal with Aunt Molly."

"Hm," Severus chuckled, "Yes, that is quite something to endure."

"Well, you haven't met Aunt Mildred yet," Dinah grinned, taking a bite of soup; "I confess my slightly vindictive side really wants to see what you two make of each other. She might not make it to town, though. We'll see."

"You keep mentioning this woman," Severus said, regarding her thoughtfully; "I confess I'm curious if she's really as bad as all that."

"Curious now, curious now..." Dinah said.

"Aunt Mildred? Is she the one who wanted to meet _Seveurs_? She sounds…interesting," Lucy asked. This woman sounded like someone she wasn't sure she wanted to meet, but still, she was Dinah's aunt and couldn't be all that bad.

"'Interesting' is one way to put it," Dinah laughed; "Perhaps you'll meet her someday, too. Just hide your sparkly ring if you do, that's my number one piece of advice."

Lucy grinned, "Oh, she steals then?"

Dinah burst out laughing; "If she steals anything it's your privacy and any hidden thoughts you might have about significant others. She's just obsessed with romantic things. If she thinks you're engaged the questions will _never_ stop."

Lucy spooned a bit of soup, smiling to herself at the thought of Dinah's Aunt Mildred stealing her hidden thoughts about Sirius. Looking out over the students she saw many Slytherins sneaking glances at them, a scattering of students from other tables doing the same. "Uh oh, I think we've been spotted," she murmured.

"Good, and it looks like a rather large group of them, too," Dinah grinned. "Probably Severus smiling all the time today is what's attracting so much attention."

Severus groaned and forced his face to fall, turning back to his food and rolling his eyes.

"Ahh, much better," Dinah teased, squeezing his arm. But her touch seemed to end all his efforts in one instant because he turned back to her and smiled again, briefly nuzzling his forehead against hers before pulling away.

Lucy stared at the pair. Something had definitely changed, either with just Severus or with both of them, she wasn't sure.

Dinah looked like she was about to hide her face, saying, "Severus...so risky...everyone is staring at us." But she couldn't stop smiling.

"Um...sorry...right," he growled a little, seeming annoyed and turned back to his food, his normally pale face tinged pink.

Dinah giggled and shook her head at him, but didn't touch him again.

* * *

The sunlight invading her room Monday morning woke Lucy enough to snuggle back into Sirius's embrace and mumble, "December."

He was more asleep than she was and his only response was, "Nnnn."

Lucy yawned but refused to stretch. She wasn't sure if she was ready to be awake yet or not. "I want to get married in December. Outside. In the snow," she whispered.

"Mmmm. Okay, but make sure you wear something warm."

"That's it? Wear something warm?"

"Yes," Sirius said, more awake now, "I'd rather not have to take my bride to St. Mungo's because she had a nasty case of frost bite." He didn't notice her momentary stiffening at his mention of the wizarding hospital, instead he looked over at her and continued, "Lucy, I want to marry you. I don't care where or when. You could say you wanted to get married in bloody Azkaban prison in an hour and I'd do it. You want December?" he shrugged, "We'll wait 'til December."

Lucy rolled over, awake now, to look at Sirius's face, "If Dumbledore agreed, what would you think about getting married here?"

"Here? Well, I think the room's a bit small for all the people you're going to want to invite and we'd definitely have to wear something a little more formal than my pajamas." He was wearing the bottoms and Lucy had snuggled into the top before falling asleep.

"I meant on the grounds, goof. There's this little spot by the lake that I've always loved…"

He kissed her forehead, "Whatever you want. It's your day. However, you promised to do whatever I want today," he said, growling and rolling them over.

Laughing Lucy replied, "Okay, but I do have to make an appearance and check on the students sometime…"


	51. Chapter 51

Chapter 51

"You know," Lucy said later, looking down at the large, black dog sitting by her door, "you can come with me in human form. As long as you remain professional and don't ravish me in the hall with everyone watching I think it'd be okay."

The dog only put his nose down to sniff at Dora before turning to paw at the door.

Lucy sighed, "You are impossible." She opened the door and let him out first, "How about we go see if we can find our teenage friends? See if we can get them to wander the halls with us?"

The pair made their way down to the dungeons, Lucy's hand resting comfortably on Snuffles's head. When they reached the door Snuffles sniffed at the door before sitting placidly next to her. Lucy raised her hand and knocked.

She was greeted by Severus opening the door openly clutching at Dinah's hand. The other woman's cheeks where flushed. "Um, sorry. Did I interrupt something?"

"Oh. No, no, we were just playing wizards chess," Dinah smiled and rested her head on Severus's shoulder, "Would you like to come in?"

"Sure. I was thinking we could patrol the halls looking for unruly students out past curfew who needed a few points deducted but we've got time yet 'til curfew." Lucy watched, embarrassed, as Sirius ambled into the room and began sniffing things. "Sirius Lycurgus Black! Get back here! We do _not_ sniff other people's things without being invited!" She stomped her foot, pointing at the floor next to her.

Severus snorted, "Typical Black behavior. Simply stay away from the potions ingredients. We do not need an explosion and I think even you would agree with that," he stepped aside from the door, pulling Dinah with him and allowing Lucy entry.

Lucy stepped inside, glaring at her puppy dog. The dog in question came over to stand next to her, licking her hand before transforming back into his human self, "Just checking for any scents that shouldn't be here. I checked your rooms too," he said, leaning down to kiss her.

"Oh, that reminds me...how was it in Hogsmeade this weekend? I wonder if you heard about the incident...well, we'd be more comfortable in the sitting room," she turned to Severus; "Is that all right?"

"Hm, fine. But the couch is ours," he dropped Dinah's hand and gestured towards the door in the back of the office leading into the sitting room, allowing Lucy and Sirius to enter it first.

"That's fine," Sirius grinned, "We can share a chair," he pulled Lucy onto his lap the minute he sat in one of the large green chairs.

"What happened this weekend? Hogsmeade was pretty quiet. Was there another dark storm?" She wiggled, settling herself properly in his lap, making Sirius squirm a bit. She grinned, knowing she shouldn't wiggle around much more.

Dinah settled onto the couch, next to Severus, resting her head comfortably in the crook of his shoulder as his arms went around her waist. "No," she said. "I suppose we're lucky that the incident occurred right before break. Dumbledore has tried so hard to keep the press out, but if students tell their families..."

"Yes, well, worst luck Rita Skeeter will be here tomorrow asking questions," Severus frowned. "But perhaps that won't happen just yet. There was an attack," he finally let the ball drop.

"Ugh, Rita Skeeter," Lucy nuzzled Sirius's neck, "She did a horrible article about you after you died."

"A good portion of it was lies I'm sure," Sirius said, rubbing her arms, perhaps trying to 'out do' Severus and Dinah.

"Mmmm," she agreed, lifting her head to look over at the other couple, "An attack you said? Dementors?"

"No," Dinah said, lifting her head to kiss Severus's cheek. "It's the thing that Eugene and the test subject are associated with. She might as well know, do you think?" she asked Severus.

"Might as well. We don't know how many details will get out by the time this is over," he extricated himself from her arms and stood from the couch. "Now, if you will excuse me," he took her face into both hands and gave her a long kiss, "I will be using the lavatory for a moment." He slid a hand through her hair and made off for the other end of the room.

Lucy blushed. Really she shouldn't be embarrassed, this was Professor Snape, her Potions Master, she was watching make out with a woman. A woman who was now squeezing a pillow in half. "Um, hello? Earth to Dinah?"

She cracked open one eye, grinning like an idiot. "He loves me," she murmured, and then buried her flushed face back in the pillow.

Lucy leapt off Sirius's lap, much to his annoyance, and pounced on her friend, "Dinah!" she squealed.

Dinah laughed and lifted her head from the pillow, hugging her friend with glee; "Yes! It's true! Do you have any idea how good it feels? Well, you must, but...but...well it feels so_ good_!"

Lucy nodded, grinning and glancing at Sirius, "Yes, I know."

"Really?" Sirius questioned her, "Because if you ask me I thought you looked rather shell-shocked at the time."

"Well, honestly!" Lucy turned back to Dinah, "He told me in the middle of the Three Broomsticks. I wasn't quite sure I heard him properly. I couldn't believe he'd said it first."

"You needed to hear it," Sirius said, drawing her back to his lap, "I didn't think you were going to say it and I'm not embarrassed about my feelings for you. I love you," he said, kissing her thoroughly.

Dinah smiled; "That's so nice. I'm so glad to finally be a part of that same thing. It's just that...I had to fight for so long. I didn't know if it would really happen and yet now..." she wiped her eyes on her sleeve and laughed. "I'm sorry. I really am ecstatically happy! It just really does feel so good!" she beamed at them.

Lucy giggled, "I can tell."

"We seem to have lost our dear Professor Snape," Sirius said, playing with Lucy's engagement ring.

As if on cue Severus walked back into the room. . He raised an eyebrow at the lot of them; "It seems as though I've missed something."

"Oh, just declarations of undying love," Lucy said, laying her hand on the one Sirius was using to turn her ring back and forth.

"I see," he chuckled and turned to Dinah; "Theirs or ours?"

"Well, both really. I told them. I just couldn't hold it in anymore," she laughed.

He smiled and settled in next to her, this time on the opposite side from where he'd been before, resting the backs of his fingers on her cheek; "You look so happy. I wonder how many times I'll need to make you smile like this to make up for all of the times I made you sad in the past..."

Dinah shook her head vigorously and buried her face in his neck. "You've already done that. The moment you told me you loved me made up for everything a million times over. It's like it's always been like this."

Lucy sighed, "Yeah, it does tend to make up for a lot. There are exceptions of course, such as pushing me into the lake twice on a chilly day."

"You didn't seem too upset about it," Sirius grinned, leaning her back and kissing her.

"Mmm," Lucy pulled back, "Last night, this morning, and after lunch wasn't enough for you? Can't you, um, turn it off for a few hours?"

"Now, I think we can probably refrain from turning my dungeons into the place for some kind of demented orgy, I _hope_...They happen to have inns for that sort of thing."

Dinah had to laugh at that.

Lucy joined in the laughter, only blushing slightly, "_I_ have no plans for any such thing and certainly not in front of an audience. I do draw the line somewhere."

Sirius shifted Lucy on his lap, not removing her from it, because she knew he needed the coverage, and mumbled, "It's not like I can just flip a switch."

"Now_ there's_ a spell to invent, Severus," Dinah joked.

"Do I have to?"

She laughed, resting her head on his shoulder and shaking it. "No."

Lucy giggled again, "You might want to, but then I suppose a cold shower would work just as well."

"Likely so," he frowned, looking uncomfortable at the turn the conversation had taken. "Sometimes the best methods are those that are-"

"Uh oh, you'd better stop there, you just might be advocating non-magical means to do something," Dinah teased, placing a finger over his lips to hush him.

Sirius cleared his throat, "So, you mentioned a non-dementor attack on the school?"

"Ah, yes," it was Severus's turn to clear his throat as well, lightly kissing Dinah's finger before gently taking it from his mouth and returning it to a more safe place on the couch between them, although he didn't let go of her hand. "I believe we mentioned previously at least to you Lucy that the dark storms may be related to some incarnation of The Dark Lord?"

"Yes," she said quietly, "Bellatrix's voice too." She felt Sirius squeeze her, in spite of her earlier words, and she snuggled into him.

"Well, that incarnation is now clear," Severus said.

"Yes, it seems what's left of Voldemort's soul is still held on this Earth in the form of a sort of half-human demon baby thing. It's held in existence by Tommy – the missing good from the story who is acting sort of like an extra Horcrux, if you know about those. We don't really know all of what the creature can do right now. But if it were somehow to be...revived...through the action of Eugene and the test subject..." she bit her lip and left her words hanging, gauging their reactions.

Lucy gasped and looked at Sirius. "Harry," they both said at the same time.

Sirius stood, sitting Lucy in the chair he vacated, "I'll go get him. You stay here."

"But—"

He put his hands on either side of her face, looking in her eyes. Eyes that she knew had to be slightly panicked. "You couldn't be safer any place else," he said, kissing her again.

"Wait! Where are you going? Harry already knows about this. He's been at most of the meetings with Dumbledore, including the one we just had on Sunday, after Saturday's attack."

Sirius turned, staring at Dinah before releasing a breath. "Sorry. I suppose I _might _have over reacted just a bit. It's easy to forget Harry's all grown up now."

Lucy curled up in the chair she now sat in alone, "So, then what _happened_?"

"It did attack, but ultimately it didn't do much. Frightened the students a great deal, caused some easily fixable damage...it sort of just floated around for awhile, shooting out a random bunch of spells with little rhyme or reason. It was rather strange, really..."

"Like it wasn't thinking…"Lucy murmured, "And then it expended all its energy, grew tired and left?"

Sirius plopped on the arm of the chair Lucy was using, "I _promised_ James and Lily I'd protect their son. I haven't done a very good job of that so far," he mumbled, apparently lost in his own thoughts for the moment.

"Potter is certainly in no more danger than the rest of us at the moment," Severus insisted. "Try to look at this separately from the previous war. It can be difficult, but it needs to be looked at separately. This incarnation is quite different from the last."

"That's my prophecy," Dinah said softly. "_I'm_ supposed to take care of it this time."

"Oh, Dinah!" Lucy gasped, going over to hug her friend, "I'm so sorry. This…it can't be easy." She looked over at Sirius, her arms still around Dinah, tears filling her eyes.

Dinah smiled, "Thanks, Lucy. It means a lot that you understand. They never used to understand, but now everybody seems to. I've, um...sort of gotten used to it now, finally. I can handle it, I think...as long as I'm not alone."

Lucy shook her head, dropping her arms, "Silly. You're not alone. There's three people in this room that care about you. You've been there for me. You've never made me go through something on my own that I wasn't ready to. In fact sometimes you've made sure I wasn't alone even when I thought I should be."

Dinah laughed, nodding. "I remember those times. You know, sometimes it feels like I've been at Hogwarts with you and Severus and Sirius for a lot longer than just one school year. This whole thing feels natural. And nice."

Lucy nodded, "Yeah, you're right. It does," she looked down at her watch, "Well, it's after curfew. Did you want to go patrol or stay in and talk about this some more?"

"We can patrol and talk," Dinah suggested, turning to her boyfriend; "Is that all right with you, Severus?"

"Whatever you want," he said sincerely. "I'm sure if we patrol we can at least work on fixing the mistakes I've been making since Wednesday, but if you'd rather stay in that's fine as well."

"Let's go. If you don't fix your mistakes soon you're going to have a _huge_ problem on your hands," she nudged him with a laugh.

"Mistakes?" Lucy asked, once again accompanied by her guard dog, "I didn't realize Severus Snape was capable of making mistakes."

Severus growled a little and Dinah laughed; "He's been giving points to Gryffindor. Quite regularly as I understand it."

"Oh, that is trouble," Lucy said, exiting the room, "We can't have students thinking the bat of the dungeons is…content."

Dinah frowned a little, turning to Severus as he finished closing and locking the door behind them. "Does that nickname bother you? I don't think I ever asked."

He shrugged; "Not particularly. I'm not partial to greasy git but dungeon bat is almost amusing. At least it shows some level of intimidation on the students' part. Although I haven't heard it as of late. Something about being youthened I expect," he sighed.

"Or the lack of flowing robes. Granted, it's easier to get you out of your clothes when you have fewer layers on," she teased, latching onto his arm.

Lucy rolled her eyes, "And how would you know? It's not as if you were removing his robes when you were adults."

Dinah flushed, "Yeah, well I will be," she retorted indignantly. "Even if it's twenty-two years from now. So there!" Severus laughed and she had to grin at him.

Lucy bit her lip, afraid she'd offended the younger Dinah's sensibilities, "Sorry. I was teasing. To be fair though, lots of robes do have their advantages. You know getting to sort of unwrap the other layer by layer."

Dinah had to grin again at the thought. "Yes, except when I was an adult it took so ridiculously long that I never got him unwrapped in time to-"

"All right, enough!" Severus cut in, his voice raising a little too much in volume and his face a bit red as he glared at them. "This is hardly hall-patrolling talk!"

"No, probably not," Lucy agreed. It wasn't long before they came upon Septimus Peaks. The fur on Sirius's back stood up and he growled low in his throat. By now he knew who the boy was.

"Peaks," Severus snarled, watching the boy with a glare as he crept along the hallway, his gaze darting back and forth and his wand in his hand.

"What's he doing?" Dinah asked as the boy poked his head out a nearby window, hunched down as though ready to crawl through a hole or jump somewhere. He pulled his head out and continued creeping, approaching a distant wall.

"Ah, the Room of Requirement," Severus reached for his wand. "We need to stop him before he enters it. _Lumos Maxima_!" a huge flash of light shot out from his wand, causing Septimus Peaks to jump up and swear quite loudly, whirling around on them just as a door formed in the wall he had approached. He just stood there for a moment watching his two teenage professors, one adult professor, and what appeared to be their growling pet dog.

"What exactly do you think you're doing outside your dormitory after curfew?" Lucy asked the glaring boy.

"None of your business!" Septimus insisted, crossing his arms over his chest. "_I_ only deal with Purebloods outside of class."

Snuffles took a step forward, his lip curling, barring some of his teeth.

"Sit!" Lucy ordered the dog. She didn't think he'd actually attack someone but she wasn't sure how much his protective instincts would take over.

"Peaks," Severus snarled, "do you have any idea how much I wish you would stop making it so that Slytherin will surely lose the house cup this year? Ten points from Slytherin for disrespecting a Professor yet again."

Septimus snarled back at him; "Right, as if you care about our house winning with all the points you've been giving Gryffindor lately!"

Severus growled more at that; "Ten points from Gryffindor, then."

"Can you do that?" Dinah had to ask him.

"I just did," was his reply.

Septimus let out an exasperated sigh; "Professor Snape, what is with you and her?" he pointed rather rudely at Dinah. "It's starting to get weird!"

"None of your business, Peaks! Ten more points from Slytherin! And Gryffindor," he tacked on.

Lucy gasped when Snuffles took off towards Septimus. She almost felt sorry for the kid when his face paled so that he was whiter than the Grey Lady. The dog kept going however and rounded the corner. Two minutes and a scream later, Snuffles was returning, pulling a terrified looking Gryffindor girl with him.

"Miss Dehoff!" Dinah exclaimed, apparently recognizing the girl.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for being in the halls after curfew, Miss Dehoff," Severus said, now looking quite satisfied rather than angry. "Care to explain your business in all of this?"

The girl only glared at Septimus, trying to tug her sleeve out of Sirius's grip, "I _told _you we shouldn't try to meet tonight."

Lucy sighed, and looked at Snuffles, "Release her and come here. What were you two meeting for?"

Septimus glared, and refused to speak. Miss Dehoff, perhaps grateful Lucy had gotten the angry dog away from her, said, "We're dating. We wanted some place private to hang out."

There was a glint of obvious pleasure shining in Severus's eyes and he took a step forward. "I see," he said smoothly, sounding more and more like he did as an adult, "Fifty points from Gryffindor, Miss Dehoff, for tempting and instigating Mr. Peaks to be away from his common room after hours, and for illegal use of school property," he indicated the door to the Room of Requirement, still standing there as if waiting for the students to come to their senses and use it.

"Tempting and instigating!" Dinah exclaimed, turning to Severus and placing her hands squarely on her hips as the Gryffindor girl's mouth dropped open in shock; "How can you hold her responsible when clearly both of them were-"

"Not now," he spoke firmly, holding up a hand to hush her. "I'm working," It was Dinah's turn to scowl a little and fold her arms across her chest.

"Do you have anything else to say about this, Miss Dehoff?" Severus raised an eyebrow at the student.

"Well," she sputtered, her eyes defiant; "I don't think that's very fair, Professor Snape, seeing as this wasn't even _my _idea!"

"Five more points from Gryffindor for insubordination. Do you have anything else to say, Miss Dehoff?"

"_No_!" she exclaimed, looking a little appalled.

Severus opened his mouth, no doubt to take more points away, but Dinah covered it; "Severus, don't you think you're pushing it a little now?"

He sighed and turned to meet her gaze; "Fine, I suppose you and I have reached an equilibrium on this point. For now."

She laughed a little and rolled her eyes, "Good."

"I suggest you two get back to your Common Rooms before Professor Snape decides to deduct more points," she made shooing motions with her hands, "I also expect that your class assignments will be extremely well done for the rest of the week. It'd also be fair to warn you that we will know if you do not go straight back to your Houses," she warned with a significant glance at Snuffles.

The two third years scurried off into the dark halls, eager to get away from the professors and their angry dog.

"Well," Lucy said, turning to Severus and Dinah, "that was…interesting."

Severus sighed, a slight smile playing on his lips; "It felt quite good, actually."

Dinah laughed; "I hope so. You singularly took eighty-five points away from Gryffindor in less than ten minutes. And twenty of them for no reason at all."

"Ah, back to the Professor Snape we are all so familiar with," Lucy grinned and turned to Sirius, "You, however, positively terrified those two."

Sirius barked and wagged his tail, bumping into both Dinah and Lucy, looking for a pat.

Dinah laughed, scratching the dog behind his ears; "Such a good guard dog. You know, you're kind of the equivalent of Mrs. Norris in this hallway patrol. Although that makes the rest of us collectively Filch, and I don't know how I feel about that one..." she grimaced.

"Yeah, no thanks. I prefer my current position as the soon to be Mrs. Black," she paused for a moment, having never really considered that, "Oh, that's weird."

"_Professor_ Black," Dinah corrected, smiling at Lucy. "That's what the students will call you." She caught Severus giving her an odd look. "What?"

"Nothing," he smiled. "Shall we continue looking for students or has Gryffindor suffered enough for one night?"

"Well, I think as long as we make another pass through the third floor corridor we should be good. It's not too late if you still want to hang out, but please don't feel like you have to. Sirius and I are able to entertain ourselves."

Dinah grinned as they continued one more loop through the halls; "So are we. And we _do_ have to finish our wizards' chess game. But you do see why we had to tell you about the attack, right? I think Dumbledore is going to inform the faculty soon, but...well we don't ever seem to know what will happen next. I wonder if somehow these whims of the flayed baby are connected to what's going on with Tommy at any given moment. I need to try and figure that out..."

"Yes," Lucy nodded, "we understand. I do hope you figure it out. I think we might end up going down to the quidditch pitch tomorrow, as humans, if you want to join us." Lucy grinned, thinking that if the other couple did join them she just might encourage Sirius to sneak away for a bit and make good use of that corner she'd pointed out to Dinah and Severus at the last match.

"Sure, it's so nice out lately. It'll be good to get outside again when things aren't trying to attack us," Dinah agreed. Soon they all arrived back at the dungeons and they bid each other farewell. Dinah pet Sirius once more before their friends departed.


	52. Chapter 52

Chapter 52

"I should really go as Snuffles," Sirius protested the next day.

Lucy rolled her eyes at him. "You've walked the grounds on two legs plenty of times now. I've told you as long as you conduct yourself like a gentleman I think you'll be fine. Come on," Lucy cajoled, climbing on him so that she straddled his lap, while he sat on the couch, "It's nice out, we get to spend time with Dinah and Severus," he pulled a face, "Okay, I know Severus isn't your favorite person but you have to admit he's not that bad. We can watch whatever students happen to be playing a friendly game of quidditch on the pitch. I won't even complain if you decide to compete with him again."

"Compete with him?"

"Yeah, you know a 'me and my girl are hotter than you and yours' type thing. Don't think I don't know what all that touching and kissing you two were doing yesterday was about."

Sirius sighed. He might not want to admit to competing with Severus but she knew he wouldn't want to miss the chance to kiss and cuddle her in front of the other man. "Alright, if you insist, but are they coming here or are we going to get them?"

"Um, I don't know. We could always go down and see if they're around, find out when they want to go for a walk. Can't have them come up here and find me with your hand up my robes. They'll be bound to think we don't do anything but snog."

Sirius's grin grew as his hand reached the back of her knee, "It does take up an enjoyable amount of our time."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "We do do other things," she got up pulling out of his reach, "Let's go down and see what the teens in the dungeons want to do." She dragged Sirius down to the dungeons, stopping in front of Severus's closed door, pulling Sirius's arms around her waist before she knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

Severus stood there, a picture in his hand, staring at them, Dinah next to him.

"Oh," Lucy said, looking down at his hand, "Dinah showed you the picture then?"

"Yes, and Mr. Creevey shall lose five points when I next see him in class for having taken it without express permission. However," he half-smiled again, "it isn't an entirely bad memento to have."

"I hardly think that's necessary Severus. Dennis told me he didn't realize he was taking a picture of us when he gave that to me. Apparently his brother's camera is giving him some problems. Has a mind of its own or something. So, were you interested coming with us to the pitch? I heard Ginny's got a friendly game of quidditch going."

"As long as we are simply watching and not associating, that's fine," he handed the picture back to Dinah, who replaced it in her pocket. "And we cannot stay long because we have grading to do."

"Evil grading," Dinah emphasized.

Sirius grinned, "Sure you wouldn't want to participate? You know professors versus students?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, "No. We're just watching. I have grading I should do too, not too much since I didn't want to burden myself during the break, but still I have some."

They agreed, locking up and following Lucy and Sirius through the halls. There were very few students around during break, but those that did walk by definitely noticed the four of them together. Some Slytherin students did as well, but Lucy wasn't sure if it was because of the odd group, or because they had no idea who Sirius was.

"What made you choose not to go as Snuffles?" Dinah asked when no one was around to overhear.

"I wouldn't let him," Lucy answered. "I do sometimes like to walk with my fiancé rather than my guard dog. Besides there aren't many students here at the moment so I think it should be fine. It's not as if we're doing anything improper. And I can do this," Lucy kissed him quickly, "without getting a mouthful of fur."

"Always a plus," Dinah laughed as they emerged into the sunny sky, heading towards the pitch. "So it looks like there's no press here yet. You've got to hand it to the headmaster, really. He's good at keeping things under wraps."

"Yes, he does," Sirius agreed. "Hermione tells me we just have to watch out for beetles. Seems Rita's one."

"Figures," Lucy sighed, "I suppose there's no use worrying about reporters at the moment. It's so lovely out today. I enjoy the snow but spring is happy."

"It is," Dinah beamed. "I like the warm weather, too. Ah, there they are!" she pointed to the Quidditch pitch ahead of them.

Lucy took a seat on one of the empty benches. By the looks of the pitch Ginny had recruited the members of whatever house teams were still at school to play the game, filling in the empty spots with other students who wanted to play. Lucy wasn't sure who was on what team but Ginny's team seemed to be winning. The stands on the other side appeared to be where all the students watching the game were sitting so the four adults had their little section all to themselves.

"How do you think our little project for Derwent is going?" Lucy asked, while Sirius sat next to her and began rubbing her leg, occasionally glancing at Severus.

"Well, Mr. Evil Lesson Plans over here is still going easy on the fifth years and up. Which is more than I can say for the poor third years," she sighed dramatically.

"Aww," Lucy said, making a sad face, "Not my third years! I mean you can overload Septimus, who apparently only speaks to Pure-blood professors outside of class, as much as you want, but not Jania and Tad. They're so cute together. Of course maybe the extra work will keep Septimus out of trouble."

"They have no more work than the first, second, and fourth years do," Severus replied simply, watching the students play.

"I didn't look at those lesson plans," Dinah grumbled.

"Oh, you do enjoy torturing your students don't you? I remember those days. Did any of you come to the games much as students?"

Sirius grinned, his hand slipping a bit farther up her leg, beneath her outer robes, "Of course I did. Had to support James after all."

"Infernal..." Severus growled under his breath, his suspicious eye following Sirius's movements. He cleared his throat and looked back out at the practice section; "I went."

"And that's the most he's going to say," Dinah laughed, and then sighed. "Such nice weather, I have no coat or robe to cover our laps with. Sorry, Severus. Either way, I came from time to time. It was weird though, always weird..."

Lucy stood, blushing, "I'm sure it was, being in two houses and all. Um, will you excuse us for a moment? I, um, forgot something," she said, dragging Sirius back below the stands.

She pulled Sirius over into the darkened corner below the seats. Backing herself in so that she was against one wall, Lucy dragged Sirius's head down to hers, claiming his lips for her own. Her tongue sought entrance to his mouth and she groaned when instead of letting her explore, he suckled her tongue.

"So," he husked, releasing her tongue, "did you really forget something?"

"No," Lucy said, "just living out an old fantasy."

"You fantasized about having sex in the quidditch stands as a teen?" he asked leaning down to lick her neck, and lifting her up so he didn't have to lean down to her.

* * *

"Weak in the knees, huh?" he whispered.

After a moment she dropped her legs, leaning against the wall for support, just in case, as Sirius went about performing the necessary spells to make them decent again.

"So," he said, as he led them back up to where their friends were hopefully still waiting for them, "you mean to tell me you've never done that in the stands before?"

"That? No. Maybe a couple stolen kisses with Nick but that was it. He never…stirred me up enough to want to do more." Back out in the stands, Lucy was glad to see Dinah and Severus still there watching the game, "You can't expect me to believe you've never even made out with a girl down there during your time here."

Dinah and Severus turned around as they approached. Dinah just smiled at them; "Have fun?"

Lucy blushed worse than what she was and bit her lip, nodding her head. Obviously Dinah at least had guessed what they were up to.

Sirius turned her to face him and used his thumb to tug at the lip she still held between her teeth. "Don't make that face. That's the face you make when…"

That comment did nothing but make Lucy turn away, afraid her face was going to burst into flames. "Don't try to change the subject."

"So glad you enjoyed yourselves. Now, I know you both know that that was terribly rude of you but I shall let it slide this one time," Dinah teased.

Lucy giggled, "Are you going to take points from us?"

"I'm sure Snape would if he could," Sirius offered.

"Indeed," Severus agreed. "_You_ are the ones who invited us out here, need I remind you?"

"Sorry," Lucy again blushed, "I was just thinking how it's kind of fun that you get to relive your teenage selves, as far as relationship type stuff goes, and how Sirius and I never got to do things like sneak beneath the stands, not that the two of you did either but…does that even make sense?"

"No, I think it does," Dinah said. "I mean, yes...one of the first things I noticed when I was youthened was that the...um, hormones make you feel certain things a little stronger. Then again, there may be a lack of control there that counterbalances it, as you can't always carefully plan how best to do things to enhance them. So I'm kind of in the opposite position, since I never got to...as an adult, you know? Though I'm willing to wait for it to happen naturally if I have to..." she exchanged a smile with Severus.

Lucy nodded, "Yeah, I get it. Being older does have its advantages," she looked over at the pitch, "They're done already? Surely we weren't down there that long?"

"Yes you were," Severus looked annoyed. "The Weasley girl's team won. You should be pleased."

"I am, but…really we couldn't have been down there that long!"

"Thanks, Lu," Sirius said, looking almost insulted.

"Oh, you know what I mean."

"We should go back inside," Dinah said. "We all have grading to do."

"Yes, of course," Lucy agreed, "I'm glad we did this. It was fun."

"It was-?" Dinah shot her an incredulous look, and then laughed and shook her head. "Right. So glad that _you_ enjoyed yourselves. Let's go back."

* * *

Lucy sat down the quill she was using to grade her third-year's essays. "You know, we didn't, um, use anything…"

"What do you mean?"

"Earlier. At the pitch."

"Oh," he said, looking sheepish. There really wasn't a lot to say on the subject. They couldn't go back in time and change things and worrying about it wasn't going to help.

"It should be fine. I really wasn't planning on going quite that far otherwise I would have taken care of it myself before we left here. Then I wasn't really thinking…"

"Neither was I."

Lucy was saved from having to answer when someone knocked on her door, "Surely Dinah hasn't come back for something…" Opening the door Lucy was mildly surprised to see Ginny, "Ginny! Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. I just wanted to make sure I was coming with you when you go to Mum and Dad's," her cousin said, coming in and sitting in one of the empty chairs.

"Of course you are," Lucy told her.

"So, did you enjoy the game? I noticed you and Professors Samson and Snape sitting in the stands," Ginny asked, grinning.

"Oh, um," Lucy blushed nearly as much as she had when Dinah had asked her a similar question, "Yes, it looked like fun. Sirius tried to talk Severus into starting up a Professors versus Students game but I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised to know it didn't go over well."

Ginny giggled, sounding very much like Lucy, "No, I wouldn't be surprised at all. Oh, I also wanted to tell you Harry wrote me and said he was taking your advice."

"What advice?" Lucy asked, confused.

"About people wanting to write a book. He talked about it with Ron and Hermione and they decided to have someone write about their Hogwarts years, focusing on Harry but including Ron and Hermione, for now. He's even done some interviews already. They estimate the first book will be out by Christmas."

"First book?" Sirius asked.

Ginny nodded, "Yeah, they're planning on separating it into seven books, otherwise they'd have to leave out too much or the book would be incredibly long."

"That sounds reasonable. I'm glad they thought about what I said. Personally I think I'd have waited a few more years but that's their choice, not mine."

"Harry's already promised to get Lucy an advanced copy."


	53. Chapter 53

Chapter 53

"Oh, it's so good to have you home!" Molly exclaimed, hugging Ginny and Lucy before welcoming Sirius to the Burrow. "Have you eaten? I'll show you to your rooms if you'd like to rest up. Oh, just one moment," Molly said, pausing in all her fussing to put her hands on either side of Lucy's face, looking at her and sighing, "You look happy dear."

Lucy grinned, taking Molly's hands from her face, "I am. If you show us where we're sleeping tonight, I can come help you with everything," Lucy offered.

"Of course, of course," Molly said, starting up the stairs again, "You'll, of course, be staying in Ginny's room along with Hermione. Bill and Fleur are staying in Bill's old room so Sirius will be in with Charlie and Percy."

And that, Lucy thought, was that. Not that they had expected any different but Molly had ensured that Lucy and Sirius wouldn't be alone the entire time they were at the Burrow.

In the room Ginny nudged Lucy, "Don't worry I'm sure we can manage to all get some time alone with the boys."

Downstairs, Lucy began helping Molly with lunch while Sirius spent time with Harry and the Weasley males. "Lucy," Fleur began, "Do you think I might see your ring? Molly said it was a family ring, no?"

Lucy nodded, holding out her hand to her cousin's wife. She didn't know Fleur well, but so far she'd found the girl to be pleasant. "Yes, it's a family ring. His family."

"It's lovely, though not to my tastes. ' ave you decided when you'll be 'aving the wedding?"

"We haven't decided for sure, no. We're considering the winter though. I enjoy the snow but it'll be on the cold side for being outside which is something else I'd like." Actually they had decided on December but there hadn't been time to talk about dates or location with Dumbledore which would be necessary before they went around telling people the date.

"How are you doing?" Lucy asked, tired of talking about herself and interested in Fleur's pregnancy. This would be Molly and Arthur's first grandchild.

"Ready to 'ave this baby. Ah, it keeps me up all night with the kicking and flipping, and constantly having to use the restroom."

"You just sit and rest dear," Molly insisted, bustling Fleur towards a kitchen chair. "You shouldn't be on your feet so much."

"Yes, yes," Fleur said, brushing Molly off, "You wait and zee, soon zis will be you and she will fuss over you like zis."

Lucy smiled, blushing and thinking about how that, hopefully wouldn't be the case. "Maybe. We've only talked about it in the vague way of acknowledging we both _want_ kids. But that's a long way off yet." She watched out of the corner of her eye, as Molly's eyes watched her. She knew her aunt's motives were good and they came from loving her and thinking of her as another daughter but sometimes it could be exasperating. Still, though, it was nice, having family.

* * *

"Harry, do you think I could steal you for awhile and come for a walk?" Lucy asked the next day between meals.

"Sure," he agreed, standing and walking with her out the front door, everyone watching them. It had escaped no one's notice that Lucy was closer in age to her fiancé's godson than she was to the man himself. A fact which a couple of the Weasleys found enjoyment in teasing those involved about. "Um, they weren't bugging you were they, what they were saying that is?"

"Fred and George? Oh, no they don't bug me. They're like mischievous little brothers. How do you like being an Auror?" The conversation was awkward at best, but Lucy wasn't sure how to work her way to what she really wanted to ask.

"Well enough. It's hard work but it's for the best. If it was easy everyone would do it and I don't think everyone should be able to. If you were interested in coming back I'm sure Robards would take you. Tonks says you were good and Robards has mentioned your skills are missed."

Lucy rolled her eyes. She doubted Harry was aware of her past connection with Gawain Robards but she was sure Gawain was aware of how she knew Harry. "No, thanks for the compliments, but no. Gawain and I…have a past. I wish him well, but I like the job I have now and don't want to leave it."

"Ah. I wondered when he kept asking Ron and Tonks about you."

They walked in silence for some time before finding a nice little spot to sit. "Is it weird for you? Me and Sirius that is. Are you okay with this because I don't want to come between the two of you or make it weird or make you think I'm trying to take him away from you…?" she asked, picking at the grass.

Harry shook his head quietly laughing, "No, it's not weird at all. I'm all grown up I don't need Sirius like I did when I was younger. We're more friends now than anything like a father son relationship. I know he's there if I need someone to talk to and it's not like you're trying to keep us apart or anything."

Lucy leaned over bumping shoulders with Harry, "I'm here to talk to if you need a woman's perspective or anything else really." They fell silent again until Lucy worked up the courage to say, "I suppose Dumbledore told you about Bellatrix."

"Yes, he thought it was important for the Aurors to know. Sirius…he told me what happened last month. He just wanted me to know so I could keep an eye on you when I was around," Harry hastened to add, "Ron and Neville know too for the same reasons but it's not going beyond us with out your permission," he promised.

"Molly shouldn't know," Lucy whispered, "the rest of them either," she added referring to the rest of the Weasley clan, "They'll just worry and watch me all the time. I can't stand the watching. It's like they're waiting for me to have a mental breakdown or something. Like I'm going to…" She trailed off, knowing Harry was at least partially aware of what had gone on before.

"I haven't said anything to him. I figured that was your place to tell him when you were ready. I don't exactly know everything that happened anyway so even if I did tell Sirius I'd only be able to give him incomplete information. I know Ginny and Ron know but I haven't asked them and I'm not going to. If you want people to know then you'll tell them. I think you should talk to Sirius about whatever it is that happened but I can't make you."

"No, you can't. I went to the chamber where he was killed. It was…oddly soothing. I keep saying this when I talk about it but the voices were peaceful. They sounded like they were content where they were. He'd do anything for us you know. As long as we were safe…he'd die for us."

"I know," Harry said simply before standing, "I promised Ginny some quidditch practice, so I'd better go."

He hesitated for awhile until Lucy waved him off with a, "Go." She laid back in the grass and sighed. Sometimes she wished things could be that simple for her, that she could just know things. Lucy knew she wasn't stupid, not by any means, but why was it that the finer points of relationships and emotions seemed to elude her at times? Why couldn't she just know and understand that Sirius wouldn't be a tortured soul among the dead as long as he knew he died keeping her and Harry safe? Why did she have to be afraid?

Suddenly, Lucy found herself dreading the next dark storm that was sure to come.

* * *

After spending a solid week with Sirius, Lucy was sad to see him go. But it was Monday and she had students, reenergized after their break, to occupy her. During her office hours that afternoon she was greeted by the happy face of Jania and the more solemn face of Tad. "Hi!" she greeted her students, "Did you both enjoy the break?"

Jania nodded, "Oh, yes! Mum invited Tad and his parents over for Easter supper and we had _such_ a wonderful time!" Tad remained shyly behind his more enthusiastic girlfriend.

"Is there something I can do for you? Did you have problems with the assignments?"

"Well, um, this is kind of awkward but Tad was telling me something and…and I think you're the only one that can tell us if it's true or not."

"It's true! I'm not making it up!" Tad insisted, speaking for the first time.

"Care to tell me what it is? I promise not to judge Tad. Surely we've known each other long enough now for you to trust me."

"Well," Tad said, settling into a chair, "A couple weeks ago I swear I saw you walking around with this huge, black dog. I thought it was weird since I know you don't have a dog. Professor Snape and Professor Samson were with you. It looked like you guys were looking for something. I've seen the dog before, running around the grounds. I thought maybe it was a wolf until I saw it with you and the other professors."

Lucy nodded. She knew some of the students had seen Snuffles, what worried her was that Tad had correctly identified them looking for something. "Yes, that was a dog. He's…sort of a friend. I call him Snuffles."

"I told you!" Tad crowed triumphantly, "Everyone saw them come into breakfast with him that one time."

"Well, how was I supposed to know?" Jania asked, looking a little disgruntled, "_I_ never saw them or the dog. I knew none of the professors had a dog. Professor Ketteridge has a cat and Professor Samson has…well a lot of animals, but she doesn't have a dog."

Tad rolled his eyes, "I also heard Peaks say the dog attacked him one night when he snuck out after curfew. Wouldn't say what he was doing but he had to fess up to being out after the older kids noticed we lost points overnight. The way he talked about that dog makes me think it scared him good."

Lucy cleared her throat, "Yes, well, Mr. Peaks may have been scared but I can assure you Snuffles didn't attack him. He may have growled and bared his teeth but he listens to me very well and I would never allow him to attack a student."

"Not even Septimus?" Jania asked, grinning, "He does like to give you a hard time Miss and I'm sure he'd deserve to be attacked or at least scared real good."

"According to Tad the last option was accomplished and no matter how rude and disrespectful a student is I cannot have them attacked by a large dog for my own amusement. Though I do enjoy watching you argue with him, Jania and when Tad shows his smarts, showing up Septimus. Now, if there's nothing else I'd suggest you two go and study. Make sure you're not late for your next class," Lucy called after the departing students.

She might have to mention the conversation to Dinah and Severus at least. She didn't think the students seeing Sirius as Snuffles was a big deal but she'd warn him to be a bit more careful to be on the safe side.

* * *

At breakfast the next day Lucy jumped in her seat as thunder rolled through the Great Hall. It was another dark storm, the first since she'd had her little meltdown and it was making her jumpy. At the other end of the table she saw Dinah and Severus having the same issue she was. They were nervous.

Beside her Slughorn laughed, "Afraid of storms, eh? Not to worry, not to worry. The ceiling's only enchanted. The Hall won't flood. Only a bit of noise and gloom in here."

Lucy rolled her eyes. Wonderful. _Now_ the man decided he should start talking to her again when what she'd really like to do was crawl into bed and hide under her pillow. "I'm not afraid of the storm, per se. It's just making me a bit uneasy. Like the students," she said, gesturing to the Hall where some students were scurrying out of the room and probably to their common rooms.

"Ah, quite right, quite right."

"If you'll excuse me I think I'll follow the students' example and head back to my rooms," Lucy stood and walked away not giving Slughorn a chance to express a desire for her to stay around. As a reward for tactfully extricating herself from the other professor's presence, Lucy allowed herself to use her break to crawl in bed and hide under her pillow where it was dark and she could barely hear the storm, much less anything else.

By the time lunch came around Lucy was more on edge than before. She kept expecting to hear Bella with the next roll of thunder or flash of lightening. She knew it was bound to come sooner or later it was just a matter of when. Septimus's constant yelling and arguing hadn't helped matters. Not to mention his accusations before and after class that she had a secret attack dog that had nearly ripped his limbs off. Thankfully both Dumbledore and Minerva were well aware of Snuffles and knew better than to believe he would attack a student.

She glanced over to where Derwent and Amedeus sat with the group of Slytherins they did the homework of. The boys looked less harried and far more relaxed then they had in months. Agrona was doing her part and talking to a group of girls that were most likely the girlfriends of the boys causing Derwent problems. Lucy smiled, Agrona it seemed, was not at all affected by the storm or by the glares and jeers other Slytherins threw at her. If Agrona could wage war against her fellow housemates than surely Lucy could make it through this storm.


	54. Chapter 54

Chapter 54

That evening the storm had not grown worse but it hadn't eased up either. Lucy found she couldn't stop pacing her room and was doing nothing but annoying and agitating her cat. She kept waiting to hear the voice that hadn't yet come. Had to remind herself that she hadn't heard Bellatrix the first few times the dark storms had come either.

Things had changed though and she was beginning to realize what panicked her the most this time was that she might have another mental meltdown. If that was the case she probably shouldn't stay alone in her rooms. She felt safe there, yes, but she was very much alone at the moment. She needed friends. Friends who were down in the dungeons most likely, down in a part of the castle where it was possible she wouldn't be able to hear the storm and most certainly wouldn't be able to see it.

Hurrying along the corridors Lucy could almost _feel_ the moment she walked through the place Bella should have been that first time she'd spoken. It was a sensation she'd felt before and she didn't like it any better now, but she doubted the feeling had much meaning.

She knocked on the door, trying to rub some warmth back into her arms. It was cold down here, which, she thought, was probably lovely in the summer but at the moment it was giving her the chills.

"Lucy?" Dinah said from behind her, making her jump.

"Oh! Sorry. I, um, I'm okay. I just don't think I should stay in my rooms by myself tonight. Or at least I don't want to."

"Oh. Of course, I understand," she said, withdrawing a key from her pocket. "Please join us tonight. We're just hiding out from the storm. Severus doesn't like me to be alone so I stay over even on class nights when the weather gets rough." She started to work the lock.

"That's…nice of him," she frowned at the key Dinah was attempting to turn in the lock. "You have a key to Severus's rooms? I'm not sure that's the right one. It doesn't appear to be working."

Dinah smiled. "It just sticks a little sometimes. There," she pushed the door open into the dark office, the rows and rows of potion bottles looking a little eerie in the absence of light. "We've had shared room keys for quite a long time now."

"And you didn't tell me?" Lucy said, grinning despite her surroundings, "Honestly Dinah that's not very friend-like if you don't share absolutely everything with me. I rarely lock my room myself but Sirius does have a key to it if necessary."

She laughed, closing the door behind them; "So sorry about that. It probably helps when I explain that at the time we exchanged the keys you and I weren't exactly speaking."

"Ah, right," she said, walking through the office and allowing Dinah to precede her into the next room, "I suppose I can let it slide this time then."

"Thanks," she chuckled, leading them into the well-lit sitting room and shutting the office door behind them. The room appeared empty except for a few bottles of various liquid ingredients that sat on the dining room table. "I assume you had knocked? Severus must be in the shower if he didn't come and answer the door. From the looks of the table there he's been messing around with potions. We'll just wait for him, then. Have a seat," she sat on the couch and gestured for Lucy to join her.

"I had just knocked when you came up behind me. Didn't give him much chance to answer," Lucy said, settling into the corner of the couch and hugging the pillow Dinah had strangled the other day. She tensed up for a moment when she thought she heard a roll of thunder. "Sorry," she apologized, "I keep expecting to hear her."

"Don't worry, I understand how it is," Dinah nodded. "These storms are unnerving, but this is probably the safest place to be. Severus keeps his dungeons very well-protected."

"That seems very like him. I figured it was quieter down here and there were people around. This is a nice couch," Lucy commented.

Dinah blushed before saying, "It is. It's quite comfortable. In the early days of our relationship Severus and I would spend hours on end just sitting here, cuddled up against each other and reading. Back in the days where he didn't do much of anything else with me, it was nice to know at least we could lean against each other and just enjoy each others' company," she smiled.

Lucy smiled, remembering how she and Sirius used to do similar things during the Order days, "That is nice. When we were part of the Order Sirius and I used to do the same thing. Well, sort of. Sometimes we would just sit next to each other, sometimes I'd be leaning against him with his arm around me. Rarely, I'd be sitting in his lap. It sort of depended on how intimate we were with each other at the time and who was around," she giggled, "Severus walked in on us once or twice. I think that's why he used to glare at me all the time. Um, we were doing nothing but kissing and were fully clothed, just so you know. He never saw anything then like he has this year from us."

"Yes, well," she chuckled, "Even so, I can only imagine how the old Severus reacted to such things, even innocent things. He was so hesitant about just putting his arm around me for the longest time."

"If Dumbledore wasn't with him it was generally with a snort and then he'd stalk out of the room, occasionally not quite slamming the door. If Dumbledore was with him a snarky comment sufficed."

Dinah burst into affectionate giggles; "Oh, Severus. I can definitely see all of that happening. In a way, I miss those days. Not that he doesn't have his snarky moments still. Speaking of which... I should probably bring some clothes into the bathroom for him and let him know you're here before he walks out without thinking. Oh, just wait till you see him fluffy!" she clapped her hands together.

Lucy smiled, loosening her hold on the pillow, "Alright. I look forward to seeing my colleague all fluffed up like a little bunny."

"Oh, but don't _ever _tell him I said that," Dinah grinned, standing from the couch. "Judging from his comments over Easter I might just end up getting killed."

Lucy tried to look appropriately concerned, "You and me both probably. You'd best go before he pops out on us though. Dumbledore would probably appreciate it if we weren't killed. Not to mention that event _might_ set the progress the boys made back a step or two. I promise I'll be okay until you get back."

"Okay then," Dinah nodded, heading first into the bedroom to find some clothes for her boyfriend.

Lucy curled up on the couch, listening for the storm. It was probably a better idea to try not to listen for it and ignore the weather all together but she couldn't help herself. She noticed Dinah walk back through and glace at her as she walked past and into the bathroom. Alone for a few moments she returned to her habit of chewing on her lip. In her mind when she chewed on it she was usually nervous, if she just bit it…well Sirius had already pointed out what she was feeling then.

She looked up when Dinah and Severus exited the bathroom, glad to see them. Dinah was right. Severus's hair was definitely fluffy, a bit like Sirius's when it was humid out. Though she would never tell either man that. "Hi. Sorry to burst in on you like this. Dinah said it was okay. She let me in."

"She had every right to. She essentially lives here now as well," Severus said, letting Dinah take her normal seat next to Lucy and sitting on her other side.

She wasn't quite sure what to say to that. The information wasn't shocking; she had even stopped looking for Dinah in her own rooms weeks ago. "You have a nice couch. It's very…fluffy. I don't think I've ever sat on it before."

Severus glared at Dinah, raising an eyebrow when Lucy used the word fluffy. Eventually he sighed and rolled his eyes, turning back to Lucy. "Thank you, I suppose. No one has ever complimented my furniture before." She noticed that he was giving her a strange look.

"You're welcome. Some furniture can be quite uncomfortable. Did I tell ever tell you I spent the night on my couch the Wednesday before break?"

Dinah laughed, turning to her, "Really? Trouble in paradise?"

Lucy smiled. The storm and the closeness were making her think back to the calming conversation she'd had with Sirius back then. "No, nothing of the sort. That's just where we fell asleep. He transfigured my dinner plate into a blanket so we wouldn't get cold. I was on top. He told me what it was like…being dead."

That got Severus to turn back from his food; "I see...well, his experience was quite a bit longer than mine. I don't recall much more than...some kind of peaceful grey state, I think. It still exists in the pensieve. You should have seen it, Dinah."

"Mm, I did..." she said, "It was odd. Kind of echoey, but it felt good. Quiet...calm...peaceful. Then again, you weren't really dead."

"No," he murmured, "I wasn't. I had to come back. I felt it even then," the smile he gave her now was quite peaceful.

"That's similar to what Sirius said. He was calm, at peace. He saw James and Lily there, but they knew there was something different about him."

"Yes, I imagine so. He was 'dead' for quite some time." Severus hesitated; "They are also at peace...James and Lily."

"You know that?" Dinah murmured, looking at him.

"I do. You convinced me of that a long time ago," he pressed a kiss to her hair. "They are where they're supposed to be, and I am where I'm supposed to be."

She smiled and nodded, snuggling into his shoulder.

Lucy sighed and hugged the pillow to her again, "They are. Their son was well looked after by a lot of people. He's safe and doing what he was meant to do. He's happy. That's all they wanted. It helped to know he wasn't alone."

"Harry?"

"Yes, sorry, Harry. And it helped me to know Sirius wasn't alone then. I don't know exactly what I pictured but I like that he wasn't alone and he didn't suffer." Lucy wiped her eyes against the pillow she was holding. Tears had sprung up unexpectedly. "Sorry. This is all rather depressing isn't it?"

She felt Dinah put a hand on her shoulder. "No, I understand. It's easy for our thoughts to do this during these storms, isn't it? But at least you know now that he was all right. That's an important part of the healing process."

"Yes, it is. Thanks. How was your Easter?" she asked, trying to bring them to a more cheerful topic.

"Wonderful. My parents really like Severus. They accepted him easily."

"Yes," Severus frowned and Dinah giggled; "Fairly unnerving, that."

Lucy laughed, "I imagine so. I think the only reason the Weasleys have been as accepting of Sirius as they have been is because they knew him before we were together. Still, I think they might have wished for someone my own age and less…crazy, escaped murderer but they trust me. Didn't keep Molly from putting us in separate rooms though. Not that I want her to know we're doing anything but I got stuck with Hermione and Ginny, not so bad. Sirius was in with Charlie and Percy. If it had just been Charlie I'm sure we could have gotten away with being alone more than the bit we did, but not with Percy hanging around. He's still a stickler for the rules."

Dinah giggled. "That's too bad. And the separate rooms thing. Being thirty-eight or having_ been_ thirty-eight really helped us out. We got to sleep together. Of course, all we did was sleep." Severus began shifting uncomfortably at the direction in which the conversation was going.

Lucy shrugged, "It's probably just as well. It would have been weird to do anything at the Burrow. I mean I slept and played there as a kid and…no, it would have just been weird."

"Yes, exactly why all we did was sleep," Dinah laughed.

Severus cleared his throat; "Enjoyable though this conversation is, I believe there are some things we need to discuss," he gestured to the table with the potion ingredients and gave them both pointed stares.

"Oh. Right. You discovered something about Eugene, didn't you?" Dinah asked.

He nodded, standing from the couch. "During our break today, in the midst of his ludicrous suggestion that we start teaching first years how to fight off Inferi, he managed to slip another attempt at the reversal potion into my coffee without my noticing. Seems he knew I would make him wait until you were around and he was simply 'too anxious' to see if his next attempt had worked," he growled.

"Well, now that's hardly acceptable, not to mention less then respectable. I assume you plan on telling Dumbledore about this right? And the Aurors?" Lucy shifted in her seat, concerned that this did not bode well for her friends.

"Yes, well, that was my first inclination, most definitely," he sighed. "However...after telling him off in my adult voice for three whole minutes longer than it lasted last time-"

"Oh, I am definitely going to kill Eugene!" Dinah exclaimed, "How dare he make you use your sexy voice when I wasn't even around?"

"Do you not think that there are more important matters at hand here?" Severus snarled at her, his skin taking on only the tiniest flush.

"Sexy voice?" Lucy asked, amused at the turn this had suddenly taken.

"Oh," Dinah blushed and turned to Lucy; "Yes, I think Severus's adult voice is quite...um, nice sounding. Not that there's anything wrong with his current voice either."

"So glad it meets with your approval," he rolled his eyes.

"Mmm," Lucy murmured, deciding to give Severus a break and not comment further on that.

"Sorry," Dinah faced Severus sheepishly; "Please continue."

"Well, I asked him if I might take a look at the concoction to attempt to analyze the ingredients..."

"He said no?" Dinah guessed.

"No," Severus shook his head. "Actually, he said yes."

"Really? That was...accommodating of him."

"As I thought," Severus agreed, frowning.

"Interesting," Lucy murmured, going over to stand near Severus at the table, "So, these are the ingredients he used in the potion then?" Looking through the ingredients she eventually said, "These look similar to the Ageing Potion Fred and George made in their sixth year. Would that work to counter the youthening potion do you think?"

"Absolutely not," Severus said firmly, taking the ingredients Lucy had indicated and moving them aside; "That aging potion is both temporary and hardly strong enough to be considered a real aging potion. It superficially ages nothing but the outermost layers of a person for use in games or disguises. Many well-placed spells can see through it, just as the Goblet of Fire was able to see through the Weasley twins' ridiculous attempt at fooling it. It would be ludicrous to assume that this one-hundred percent real youthening that Dinah and I have endured could be counteracted by an aging potion of this sort."

"Yes, I understand that. I received an E on my Potions' N.E.W.T if you'll recall. What I meant to say was do you think it would be wise to use that potion as a starting point to the antidote? For that matter, and I don't mean to upset you with this, but would it be possible for Eugene to use this Ageing Potion to make you believe progress is being made, when in reality there's been no progress whatsoever? I truly hope that's not the case but I just…we need to look at this from all angles."

Severus sighed; "Yes, Lucy, that was my thought. And that is why I took these Ageing Potion ingredients from my _own_ stores to compare them with the ingredients I found in Eugene's concoction," he gestured to the other set of unrelated vials that he had moved the other ones away from.

"Wait a moment," it was Dinah's turn to stand from the couch and walk over to them. "You're saying those ingredients were _not_ in Eugene's concoction?"

"That's what I'm saying," he gestured to the real ingredients. "The ingredients here are all quite reasonable counterparts to the ones we know of in the original potion, and the others are all ones that would have crossed my mind, had I given it a lot of thought, to use in antidote attempts. Which means... Eugene is _actually trying_ to help us," he looked more disturbed about that idea than he looked pleased.

Lucy looked smugly at the pair. In addition to many other things she sometimes felt people thought she had suddenly become stupid since quitting the Ministry and her…little episode. At the moment she felt like she'd accomplished something and helped out her incredibly hard to please Potions Master. "That's…oddly disturbing for some reason. It shouldn't be, but the thought doesn't sit as well with me as I would have thought."

"Exactly. Because it makes everything quite confusing and unclear. Dinah, this fits with your idea of Eugene giving mixed messages and your theory that he did not want us to be youthened and splits with his test subject on that point."

"Right..." Dinah agreed, frowning and fingering one of the 'good' bottles. "But it doesn't make sense with his other behaviors. Now I see why you shied away from those theories of mine. I didn't think about it then because," she flushed, "well, I'm idealistic and was using them more as a point of trying to see the good in everyone than I was really thinking deeply about them..."

Severus managed a slight smile; "Yes, I can see that. But now that we know he is trying to help us here the question becomes why he is very much trying the opposite with everything else. He is definitely not trying to help me with my classes. Why would he try to sabotage me there but try to help us here?"

"Maybe he has something against defending against the dark arts? Stupid idea I know," Lucy said, grinning and holding her hands up in surrender.

Dinah laughed and even Severus cracked a smile. "Well, all I can think is that he doesn't want us youthened but he also wants to keep us from knowing anything more than we have to. I don't know what that means about his ultimate feelings for us, though. I felt like he liked us at the beginning, but the way he's treating you in class infuriates me and makes me think that we're just pawns in his and his test subject's little game. Either way, we don't know much more than we did before."

"I haven't had many dealings with him but he seemed nice at the Slug Club party we went to that one time," Lucy smirked, "That was a good night."

"Really? Glad you enjoyed it. I was discovering creepy things in his rooms, not to mention sick with a horrible cold."

"Which you would not have gotten had you not been sitting out in the rain staring off into the distance for hours," Severus reminded, running a strand of her hair through his fingers.

"If I hadn't been doing that you would never have held my hand for the first time."

"That storm gave me a cold too, but not as bad as yours was. By the time the party came around I was mostly recovered. Actually the party itself wasn't what I was referring to. Between Slughorn and Nick it was annoying. Rather, it was," Lucy blushed until she was sure her face matched her hair, "after the party that was enjoyable."

"Oh?" Dinah teased. "Was that your night then?"

"My night?" Lucy played innocent, "What do you mean?"

Dinah giggled and in a moment Lucy joined her. Severus was just starting to roll his eyes at them when a huge crash of thunder caused both Dinah and Lucy to jump. Quite quickly, reality fell again and Dinah sighed. "I hate to do this, but I really need to go and try to find Tommy now."

"That's alright;" Lucy assured her, turning to Severus, "Is it alright if I stay? I can go back to my rooms if you want. I-I think I'll be fine." She really hoped he didn't make her go back to her rooms. She really did believe she wouldn't have a problem tonight, but she'd been so much more relaxed down here among friends. She'd hardly thought of Bella -and the fact that she hadn't yet spoken - since entering the dungeons.

He sighed; "You may stay. Dinah won't be gone for long. Will you?" he turned to Dinah, his gaze concerned again.

"I hope not. I can't guarantee anything, though. I have to stay as long as Tommy is there. I have to try to make him happy and comfortable, show him that he's not alone."

"You are magnificent at doing that," he leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on her cheek; "All right. Go and be safe."

"Yes," she slid her hand down his arm and squeezed his fingers before stepping back and turning to leave the room.


	55. Chapter 55

Chapter 55

"Thank you," Lucy said, going back to where she'd been sitting earlier. "You didn't have to let me stay. I get that I might be intruding." Part of her was afraid of imposing on the couple but mostly she was just trying to do what Sirius had told her to and accept help when she needed it.

"Yes, well," he began gruffly, taking the potions from the table and beginning to put them away; "Better you stay here than return to your rooms and risk another episode."

"Yes, that's true." Lucy looked down at her feet for a moment before turning to watch Severus's back. "Look, I think I know the answer, but Dinah doesn't…_know_ does she? She said you told her everything but you couldn't have told her that. You don't hate me anymore."

Severus stopped what he was doing and then after a moment sighed heavily, placing the bottle he was holding back down on the table with a thump and staring down at it for a moment before speaking. His voice came out quiet and perhaps a bit sad; "Lucy, I never hated you. I do not _hate_ anyone, save perhaps The Dark Lord. I dislike many people and I have a low tolerance for many...activities. But I do not hate you."

"Oh," Lucy said. She hadn't really realized that. Somehow she'd assumed his…intense dislike of the man he'd caught her making out with a number of times extended to her. It was good to know it hadn't, even then. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made assumptions about you. That was unfair. It's just the way you used to look…glare at me back then. Though I suppose now that I think back on it those looks were generally gotten when I was on Sirius's lap or some such."

"Yes. Well. You should be pleased to know that I have told Dinah nothing about your predicament, although clearly you expected that I had," he still sounded bitter.

"I'm sorry," Lucy whispered, curling up and hiding as if she were a small child again. "I should know better. I should but I-I can't seem to be rational about this. I don't know why."

Once again, Severus sighed, but his voice was less irritated when he spoke again; "I love Dinah and I have told her many things. But when she says I told her everything it means that I told her everything that she needed to know and that which was mine to tell. Your predicament is not mine to tell. I only know that I was quite disturbed, even then, upon seeing it. Do you think I could have felt that way if I hated you?"

She shook her head, uncurling a bit at his oddly gentle tone. She saw that he had turned to face her, his face not nearly as irritated as she expected it to be. "No, I suppose not. Thank you. Is there…would you like some help with the potions or something?"

"There is not much left to do. You may read," he gestured to a row of bookshelves on the opposite wall, "if you wish. I do not have a large fiction section as I only purchased books with a close tie-in to my research in either potions or the dark arts, but you may find something in there or in the non-fiction which is to your liking. I intend to read more on some of the ingredients I found in my analysis," he grabbed a thick book and walked over, sitting next to Lucy on the couch and opening it to a marked page.

Lucy stared at Severus, surprised he picked up a book and sat next to her as if nothing unusual had occurred. If she was a little more daring she might be willing to tease the man by patting his arm or brushing his leg with her foot, but she thought the poor guy had been taxed enough for the day.

Getting up she went to peruse his shelves. He hadn't been kidding when he said he didn't have a large fiction section, but she managed to find a very Severus type mystery novel and went back to her spot on the couch to read until Dinah returned.

They both looked up when Dinah entered a short time later. Severus smiled and put his book down on the coffee table; "How did it go?"

"Okay. Good, I think," she walked forward and sat on his lap, resting her head on his shoulder as he put his arms around her.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, just a little sad, that's all. But I'll be fine." She closed her eyes.

Lucy sighed, thinking she could use someone to cuddle with right now, even Charlie or Bill would do. "Did…did he seem okay?" Lucy asked. She didn't really know what else to say.

"I think so," Dinah nodded. "Better than he's been before. I might be getting through to him. My new strategy...might work. I'm trying to make him strong so he can fight off the flayed baby. I want to heal him."

Lucy nodded, "I'm glad. I suppose even he deserves to rest peacefully. It's good. What you're trying to do."

Dinah lifted her head from Severus's shoulder to smile more directly at her. "Thanks. That means a lot."

"You're welcome." Thunder crashed overhead again and she ducked, heart pounding, her eyes darting around as if looking for Bellatrix, which was ridiculous. She knew very well she would hear the wretched woman before she saw her. In fact she'd yet to see her, so really it was just her voice Lucy was looking for. "Sorry," she apologized, seeing Dinah's concerned look.

"It's okay," Dinah stood. "Why don't we do something distracting? I know! We can play two-on-one wizards' chess. Maybe you can help me beat Severus for once!"

Lucy laughed, "Maybe, though I can't guarantee it. We didn't play much wizards' chess before because the set at Grimmauld Place bites and Ron sort of monopolized the new one while they were visiting."

"Well, we can't do any worse," Dinah teased, holding her hand out to Severus with a smile. He laughed, rolling his eyes and taking her hand before standing from the couch.

"We shall see about that," he levitated the chess set over to the table, put away a final potion bottle, and they settled down for the game.

Of course, they were unable to defeat Dinah's smug genius boyfriend. "Checkmate," he said for the third time an hour or so later, moving his untouched queen into a position where their single remaining pawn could do nothing to protect their king from his vicious attack. The king dropped his sword and the game was over.

"I tried to warn you," Lucy said, laughing with Dinah. "I used to play fairly well in school but once I left there wasn't much time to practice with Auror training and everything."

"Oh, it's not you, it's him," Dinah grumbled, gesturing to Severus's mildly amused expression. "But at least we got closer this time. Or at least it took us longer to lose. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome. Well," she said, looking over towards a clock nervously, "I suppose I should be going. It's getting late."

"Yes...it is probably time to turn in," Severus agreed, flicking his wand and making the chess set put itself away. "Perhaps the storm will blow over by morning."

"I have a feeling it won't," Dinah murmured.

Lucy wrung her hands, not looking forward to going back to her rooms with only Dora to protect her. She was forcefully reminded that this was the first storm she'd faced since pounding her hand to bits on Dumbledore's gargoyle. "I'll be okay," she whispered to herself, "It's just a voice and voices can't hurt you. There's nothing to be afraid of. This is just a regular storm."

"Look, maybe you should stay here tonight, Lucy. She could sleep on the couch, couldn't she, Severus?"

He sighed; "I suppose that would be fine. Perhaps safer."

Lucy looked up, hopeful, "Are you sure? I wasn't angling for an invite. I'd be okay on my own I'm sure." She tried to sound confident when she said that but she wasn't so sure she succeeded.

Dinah shook her head. "No. Stay. It's fine. Here, I'll go find some blankets for you. Did you need to get a change of clothes?"

"Um, probably. If you don't mind. I didn't come down here with intentions of moving in," she joked, "I _could_ sleep sans robes but I don't think that's exactly appropriate on someone else's couch."

"No. Not," Severus frowned, looking a bit agitated and causing Dinah to smile. "Go and get them, then. Do you need Dinah to go with you?"

"If she wants to come she can. I've been okay so far. I think I'm just psyching myself out anticipating things," she stood uncertainly in the middle of the room, "I assume you have a 'no cats' policy down here?"

Dinah grinned; "Definitely. Severus actually likes Godric but what with all of the potion bottles and things on the many shelves cats are too much of a risk. You can go on your own, I'm sure. If you think you can handle it I don't want to seem like I don't respect you for that. But if you need me I'll come."

Lucy nodded, "Makes sense. Dora does like to find things to roll around and potions shouldn't be one of them. Don't worry though. I'm sure I'll be fine for a few minutes."

She rushed off to her rooms, not wanting to be stuck between one place and the next if Bella chose to speak to her. In her rooms she found Dora curled up in a chair fast asleep, apparently not counting on Lucy coming back that night. In her bedroom she grabbed nightrobes, a change of clothes, the pillow off her bed and her Snuffles blanket. It didn't smell like Snuffles anymore but now it was starting to take on the scent of Sirius, a scent which she liked better.

Stuffing everything into an overnight bag Lucy hurried back to the dungeons, opening the door without knocking, only to find Dinah making up the couch for her to sleep on. "Severus in bed already?"

Dinah nodded; "Do you need anything else? Some water or extra blankets or anything? Although I think there are quite enough in this pile," she grinned, gesturing to the four folded blankets on the end of the couch.

"Oh, no. I think I'll be fine," she grinned as she pulled out her blanket and pillow. "Was he afraid I'd come into the bedroom and interrupt something looking for blankets?"

She laughed; "We didn't start anything for that very reason. I guess we're better at controlling ourselves than you two. Granted, we used to be older..."

"Sure blame it all on me," Lucy teased, "I _am_ twenty-six you know. That time in the quidditch stands was a one off experience that I certainly wasn't planning on. _That_ was only intended for a bit of kissing to sort of live out a teenage fantasy."

"Well, you got more than you were bargaining for then," Dinah teased her right back.

She blushed and shook out her blanket, "That I did. He got yelled at later though for forgetting a certain spell."

"Oh! Lucy, you need to be careful! I mean...well, I guess you're both old enough and you're engaged, but since you said you forgot it I assume that means that you intended to use it."

"I know," Lucy said, embarrassed, "It's not something that happens often but it's not something I'm looking to repeat. I don't imagine I'd have my job much longer if we slipped up and something happened."

"Well, I don't know about that..." Dinah murmured, "It's possible you could keep it but it would certainly be awkward if you were unmarried...to the students and their parents, anyway. Well, you can't go on saying it's something that 'doesn't happen often', it _should_ be something that 'doesn't happen ever'. Can you imagine if Severus and I forgot? What would happen if the youthening was suddenly reversed in such a situation? And even were it not, I'm only six..." she flushed, "well, when I think about it that way I'm almost ashamed for doing anything at all. Almost."

"Yes, you're right," Lucy murmured, feeling thoroughly chastised, "We really do intend to use it every time."

"Try to change the way you say it. Say you will use it every time, not just you intend to. You'd be surprised how the language you use can affect things like your mindset and consequently your actions. But, well, I can only lecture you so much. Feels kind of funny since I'm currently younger than you. I only want to make sure you don't do something that you regret later."

Lucy smiled, "I appreciate it, really, and you're right about the words affecting actions. Which is why I say I'm trying to let go of Bella. I'm not there yet but I'm working it. I'll get there. I'm determined and stubborn."

"Good," Dinah smiled, "And you should be safe down here for the night. Now, we should both really get some sleep. Sure you're all set and comfortable here before I turn in?"

"Um," Lucy looked around, "Bathroom's right through there, right? Other than that I think I'm good."

"Yes, right through there. Good night."

"Night," Lucy told her friend before heading to the bathroom to change and complete her night time ritual. The Slytherin theme continued into his bathroom, Lucy noticed, as she brushed her teeth, stealing some of Severus's toothpaste and taking in the mirror lined with small silver snakes. Moments later she snuggled down into the blankets, assured she'd be warm despite the chill of the dungeons.

* * *

Lucy woke with a start, gasping for breath. It was pitch black in the room and she could hear the sounds of the storm in the distance. Without giving it much thought, she jumped up off the couch and raced for the bedroom, crawling onto the bed and hiding her head under a pillow. If she couldn't see it or hear it, it couldn't hurt her.

She heard a muffled, "Dinah, how many times have I told you that the middle of the night is time for sleep?" come from Severus and she kept her mouth shut, hoping they would fall back into a deep sleep and she wouldn't be noticed. She might, if she calmed down, even sneak back out to the couch.

"It's not me," Dinah responded, she shuffled around for a moment before she discovered who was in their bed, "Lucy!"

"Lucy!" Severus shouted, thrashing around and making the bed bounce. She could almost feel him glaring at her. "What the hell is she doing here?"

She hunched up a little more, trying to make herself smaller and scrunched her eyes closed before muttering, "Sorry. I got scared."

"Who do you think we are? Your parents?" Severus growled. "Get out!"

"Please don't yell," Lucy sniffed, holding the pillow tighter over her head, "I know you're not my parents. My father used to lock my door."

Dinah sighed, rubbing Lucy's back in a comforting manner; "Lucy, it's all right. Don't mind him. He just gets irritable like that in the middle of the night. He didn't mean anything by it."

"Yes. Sorry," Severus's muffled voice grumbled; "I guess this doesn't do much to convince you of the truth of my words earlier this evening. It's nothing personal; I am simply not used to random people invading my bed in the middle of the night."

Lucy loosened her hold on the pillow, returning to the earlier death grip she'd had on it. "That's okay; I'm not used to invading random people's beds either."

"So... what comes next here, then?" Dinah asked, still rubbing her back. "What happened to scare you? The storm?"

"No," Lucy shook her head, "A nightmare."

"Oh...Are you okay? Do you need to tell us or do you just need to stay here for awhile? I suppose it's all right, since you're already here. Severus?"

"At this point, who cares?" he grumbled.

Lucy rolled over, lifting the pillow to look at Dinah's face, "Bella was pissed…at-at me. I don't know why," she said, blinking back tears, "It wasn't the same as the voice though. This was something different. A dream. I know it, but it was still scary."

"I understand. And during a dark storm, too," Dinah nodded sympathetically. "I can't say for certain that it means nothing, but it probably was just a dream. You've been thinking about it a lot, trying to forgive her, trying to let go. That's hard to do. Subconsciously, maybe your fears that you won't be able to do that are expressing themselves in the dream as an angry Bella. But you're still trying. You said so last night. That's the main thing."

Lucy finally let go of the pillow, "I hope you're right. I could use my guard dog right about now but in lieu of that do you mind if I stay? I think I know a way for it to not be weird."

"Switch with Dinah," Severus mumbled, half-asleep but apparently having followed the conversation thus far.

Lucy giggled, "That's not exactly what I was thinking." She winked at Dinah before transfiguring into her fox self.

Dinah squealed at the adorable creature that had magically appeared between her and Severus.

"Dinah!" Severus hissed, covering his ears as his eyes popped open again to glare between her and Lucy; "If this is going to continue all night I'd just as soon have her stay human."

Dinah covered her mouth to stifle a giggle; "Sorry. I'll stop, I promise. Just...so...cute."

"Don't mess with my potions, fox," Severus ordered, slamming his face back into his pillow again.

"And give me back my pillow," Dinah snatched her pillow back over to herself.

Lucy simply stared and climbed on top of the covers, curling up and wrapping her tail around her, before closing her eyes.


	56. Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Lucy woke up early the next day, still in her fox form and feeling playful now that the night had passed. Her ears told her the storm was still hanging around but she found it much easier to deal with during the day. She stood up, stretched and hopped down on to the floor, heading out into the main room. Using the furniture as stepping stones, she made her way up to where Severus kept his potions.

She mouthed a bright blue potion, picking it up and setting it in a secure place before moving a magenta colored one into the empty slot. She put the blue one in the place the magenta potion had vacated, then picked up a silvery green one and put it on the coffee table on top of the book he'd been reading the previous night. Severus would be sure to notice what she'd done she was sure.

Her work finished, she ambled back into the bedroom, hopping up onto the bed. Now she was bored and the other two were still asleep. Well, that was about to change. Lucy moved into a position above their heads and started pawing at their hair, not wanting to startle them into smacking her off the bed.

"Dinah..." Severus's voice snarled; "We have classes this morning and it is still too early for you to be-" suddenly he gasped and jumped back, causing the bed to bounce and Dinah to open her eyes and see what all the hubbub was about. "Fox!" he hissed, propped half-up on the bed, his startled gaze glaring and clutching the comforter to his chest like some virgin lady. "Fox, you do not touch my hair!"

Dinah just stared for a moment until Lucy pounced on her, grabbing at the covers Severus held with her teeth and pulling lightly. She didn't want to tear his blankets to shreds, just goof around with him a little.

Dinah burst into giggles as Severus's fingers clutched defiantly at the blanket, pulling back as his face lit up with fury.

"Infernal wild animal!" he growled again.

"Aw, come on Severus, she's just trying to play! Aren't you, Lucy?" Dinah cooed, scratching Lucy's head, "You know, I wonder if she has a nickname in fox form. We never asked."

"I don't care to know. Make it stop pulling at my blanket."

Lucy abruptly let go of the covers, laughing as best she could when Severus yanked on the covers as she let go and fell back on the bed. She rubbed against Dinah's hand again, finding she enjoyed the scratches and pats her friend gave her. Generally she was either in her animagus form when alone or together with Snuffles, which meant she didn't get much petting from Sirius.

"So cute, so cute!" Dinah hugged her, happily obliging. "Let's leave Grouchy over there be for now and summon breakfast here," she said, stroking Lucy's fur as she let her go, "He'll come out when he's ready. He's shy. Doesn't want you seeing him in his nighttime robes."

"Would you shut up, you infernal witch? Go away and leave me be, the both of you! It is too early for this!" his muffled voice snapped at them.

Lucy sighed and picked her way to the end of the bed, avoiding Severus's feet, before jumping down and waiting for Dinah in the doorway. Dinah disentangled herself from the covers and climbed out of bed, following her. They entered the sitting room and Dinah summoned breakfast to the table. "Eggs, bacon, porridge...all great fox food, right?" she teased Lucy, whose tail was twitching below her. "I bet you like the bacon at least, right? And with the eggs you don't have to go steal some from the nearest chicken coop."

Lucy hopped up onto the nearest chair, and put her paws up on the table. She'd rather just hop onto the table herself but she wasn't sure how well that would go over if Severus were to emerge from his beauty sleep.

"Here, want eggs and bacon?" Dinah asked and put a small plate of the two in front of the fox, settling into the next chair and piling her plate high with goodies and her bowl with porridge.

Lucy grabbed a piece of bacon with her teeth, pulling it off the plate and maneuvering it so she was able to prop it up with one paw and hold it in place with the other. She then proceeded to chew on it, bracing herself for the squeal she felt was coming sooner or later.

"Ahh, so cute!" Dinah shrieked, munching on her own piece of bacon. The two of them ate in amiable silence, broken occasionally by some exclamation by her friend relating to cuteness as she watched Lucy eat. After a moment, they heard footsteps and turned to see that Severus had entered the room, fully clothed and still looking grouchy.

He made it about five steps into the room and his eyes landed on the book he had been reading yesterday, sitting on the coffee table with the vial of silvery-green liquid on top that Lucy had placed there oh so carefully. He took a few slow, calculated steps towards it, reaching down and fingering it for a second before lifting it up and scrutinizing it. Finally, he slammed it back down and turned a slow glare towards them, his eyes narrowed and his lips curling into a snarl, "Fox..."

Lucy yipped and dove under the table, going over to hide behind Dinah. Surely if she looked pathetic and cute enough her friend would save her from the big, bad Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

"Lucy, you didn't!" Dinah exclaimed.

"And on purpose no doubt, the despicable little troublemaker!" Severus shouted, storming over to the table and glaring amongst the potions lined along the shelves on the nearby wall.

His eyes landed on a magenta one where he then placed a finger, trailing his other finger along the line of neighboring potions until it landed on one that was bright blue. "The two have been switched! This one goes here! My system – ruined!" He snatched the two and put them back in their rightful places, then began pulling more potions off of the shelves and slamming them onto the table, yelling about what else the 'infernal beast' might have messed with.

Dinah looked incredibly amused as she watched him. "Severus darling, don't you think you might just be making things worse? She probably didn't move anything besides those three."

Lucy knew she had a mischievous streak; she was sure that was part of the reason her animagus was a fox. They were known to be sly, sneaking creatures. Still, Severus seemed quite annoyed and not at all amused, and so, ears and tail drooping, she pawed at Dinah's legs, looking most pathetic.

"Aww, come here." She patted her lap and Lucy jumped up. "I told you," Dinah said, petting her, "Don't mind him when he gets like this. He secretly enjoys getting annoyed about this sort of thing, I think. He knows you were just being playful. I mess around with him all the time. He's used to it."

"Yes, and I especially enjoy when two women talk about me as though I'm not standing right here," Severus growled, turning around to shoot them both an annoyed glare.

"Did you hear two women talking?" Dinah grinned. "I didn't. I heard a teenage girl talking and a fox not talking."

Lucy did her best to stick her tongue out at the irritated teen and turned around to steal one of Dinah's bacon strips before starting to eat it. She knew better than to push her luck with Severus and hop up on the table.

"Hey, that's mine!" Dinah exclaimed, grabbing for the strip which Lucy tugged away from her. She sighed.

"Oh? Have I just noticed that of your two obsessions food trumps cuteness?" Severus laughed, leaning over to take her other piece of bacon.

"Why you!" she grabbed for it but he pulled it away. "You two do much better working together than against each other, do you know that? And yes. I guess food does trump cuteness," she grabbed two fresh pieces of bacon and held them possessively away from the thieves.

Lucy hopped down off Dinah's lap and transfigured back into her normal, human self, wearing nothing more than the camisole and shorts set she'd worn to bed last night. "Well, as fun as that was I think we'd better eat and get ready if we hope to be to class on time." She wished the fun could have gone on longer but she didn't want to give the kiddies any wrong impressions and, she suspected, neither did Dinah or Severus.

"Yes, I guess so," Dinah sighed, grinning at her friend. "That _was_ fun, though."

"You think?" Severus snorted, averting his eyes from Lucy's minimally-dressed state and turning to begin putting potions back onto the shelves, stopping after a moment with a sigh. "Tell me, troublemaker. Was Dinah correct in assuming that these were the only three potions whose positions you altered?"

Lucy giggled, and sat in the chair she'd previously vacated, holding an unchewed piece of bacon out to Dinah, "Yes, those were the only ones I touched. You really brought it on yourself though you know. Telling me not to touch anything."

He just snarled in response and continued replacing bottles, jars, and vials as Dinah took the offered food. After everything was replaced he turned back to them, still not looking directly at Lucy as he grabbed a plate and settled in next to Dinah. "For what it's worth, she's right. I _am_ used to being 'messed around with' by now. But she was wrong about me enjoying it. I don't." He took a defiant bite of his eggs.

"He enjoys it," Dinah said sideways to Lucy, grinning.

Lucy shrugged, "That's probably why Sirius and I get on so well. We both like to mess with each other."

"It can be fun," Dinah smiled. "So it seems like the storm is lingering, which I kind of expected..." She looked torn.

"Yeah. Don't worry about me though. I'll be out of your hair after breakfast and then Sirius is coming over tonight and I'm guessing you'd rather not have the pair of us sleeping on your couch. Now," Lucy said, taking a last bite of eggs before continuing, "is it alright if I use the shower quickly? I promise not to take long. I'm low maintenance."

"Feel free," Severus said, standing and glancing at the clock on the wall. "I have to meet our best friend soon for another wonderful day of incompetence. If you would just lock up before leaving," he leaned down to kiss Dinah.

"Of course," she smiled when they broke it. "Don't worry, I won't leave your favorite troublemaker alone here to move more of your potions."

"Much appreciated," he rolled his eyes and left the room.

"Aww, I'm his favorite troublemaker," Lucy grinned, standing and grabbing fresh robes out of her bag, "You know, he doesn't have to call me 'Fox'. Lucy works just fine."

Dinah smiled; "That's more of a Severus thing than anything else. He still calls Godric 'Cat' half the time. I think it's just his way of addressing animals. But I'm sure he'll eventually start slipping into 'Lucy'."

"Okay, well, just so you know," she pointed to the bathroom and started walking that way, "Ten minutes tops. Promise."

"Good, because I need to use it after you," Dinah called after her.

* * *

"Where've you been?" Sirius asked when she walked into her rooms that evening with her overnight bag.

"Well, with the storm last night I stayed with Dinah and Severus. His bed is quite comfortable by the way," she said, shooting Sirius a sly glance.

"Oh?" He came up behind her and grabbed her around the waist, growling in her ear, "And how exactly do you know that?"

Lucy giggled, "I slept in it."

"Really? Snape gave up his bed for you to sleep in? How gentlemanly of him."

This time she snorted, "Hardly. He was in it too."

"You made me apologize to the man only to have me turn around and kill him?" Sirius said casually.

She rolled her eyes at her overprotective boyfriend. If anything really had happened she didn't think he'd be pleased, obviously, but she really hoped he wouldn't resort to killing anyone. "Oh, relax. Dinah was there too and I was my foxy self."

"I bet that pleased him," Sirius muttered.

"Mmmm yes, especially when he found out I'd played with his potions this morning."

"I'm finding it harder and harder to believe you only got one detention in school," Sirius said, tugging on the braid she put her hair into after her morning shower.

"Well, believe it. I was far too shy back then to make much mischief."

"So did the young couple invite you into their bed or did you have a death wish?" Sirius asked, pulling her over to sit on the couch.

"Neither," Lucy said, picking up the last couple parchments she had left to grade from the night before, "I was sleeping on the couch, as a precaution. I…had a nightmare and sort of jumped into bed with them."

"And you jumped in bed with them?"

"Yes," she nodded, "It really wasn't anything alarming. I just reacted without thinking. We had fun, or Dinah and I did anyway. I'm not so sure Severus thought it was funny."

"Don't worry about him. Snape has always been a bit of a stick in the mud. You okay now?"

Lucy nodded, laying her head on his shoulder, "I think so. The storm hasn't been so bad and oddly the longer it's gone on the easier it's been to deal with."

By ten o'clock Lucy had finished her grading and was in bed cuddling with Sirius, in part because they had to. Lucy's bed was only intended for use by one person and so they had to be close in order to fit, which was just as well since they would have been lying close anyway. Sirius laid on his back with Lucy up against his side, her arms around his chest, listening to the storm.

_My Lord…_

Lucy clutched at Sirius tighter as thunder crashed when Bella spoke.

She felt his arm tighten on her back, "Okay?"

"Yes," she squeaked, her face buried in his side.

Sirius tugged at her braid again, wanting her to look up at him. He didn't speak until she did and then it was only her eyes he could see. "Tell me," he insisted.

"I…" Lucy had to swallow before continuing, "I heard her."

"And?"

Lucy's brow creased as she thought. Bella had said something different this time but not only that she _sounded_ different. "She said, 'my Lord' this time. It sounded different, like she was searching for him, like she missed him."

"Mmm, perhaps she does. Bella was very into the Dark Arts and then the Death Eaters. Far as I know she never really wanted to marry Rodolphus. He was just one of the few available pure-bloods who shared her ideals and was of an age to marry. Voldemort was, as crazy as it might seem, her ideal man."

_I am his most trusted servant._

Lucy squeaked again and this time Sirius let her hide for awhile. "She didn't hurt you," she whispered, having suddenly realized something.

"Hmmm?"

"She didn't hurt you," Lucy said, lifting her head so he could hear her. "All this time I've thought it was about her hurting you, killing you, but it's not."

"What do you mean?" he asked, stroking her back a little harder than before.

"She didn't hurt you," she repeated for the third time, "She hurt me. I'm not so full of myself to think she was trying to purposefully hurt me but it was a nice by product for her. She took everything from me. A life I could have had and the one I _did_ have. She took you away, she made my…my father come. She caused me to go inside myself because it hurt too much to be in the world. She made me scared. I never used to be scared like this. She hurt _me_."

Sirius pulled her up on top of him, holding her while she cried. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Lucy sniffed, "I promised Dinah and Severus I'd tell them when I hear Bella but I think I'd better leave them alone tonight. Severus was annoyed enough with me last night. Besides," she wriggled on top of him, "I've got my favorite guard dog here and I know you won't let anything happen to me."

"I'd die first," he promised.

Lucy grinned, resting her chin on his chest and looking at him, "Too late."


	57. Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Thursday afternoon Lucy skipped out on her office hours for a few minutes She ran down to the dungeons and wrote out a note for Dinah.

_Dinah,_

_I'm staying through Friday night. Do you think we could get together and have a little chat? Maybe a film or some of that internet thing? Severus is welcome to come too if he wants though I doubt he'll want to come anywhere near the 'troublemaker' for awhile yet._

_ Lucy_

She stuck the note on the door, where she hoped it would be easily found and hurried back up to her office. Hopefully, that would work for Dinah.

* * *

Lucy tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for her friend to show up. Looking at the clock she saw Dinah wasn't actually late. Lucy had just hurried through her meal wanting to talk to the young professor about the incredibly weird thing she'd discovered. Rationally, she knew that Dinah enjoyed her food and probably ate more than Lucy had. She most likely also had to say good night to Severus, feed her animals, and grab whatever Muggle things she was bringing with her. Lucy was just impatient.

Finally she heard a knock on her door and she rushed to answer it. "Hi!" she said, opening the door. Dora was apparently thrilled to have a visitor and ran up to rub against Dinah's legs. "Sorry," Lucy apologized for her cat, and looked back behind Dinah at the random assortment of mysterious objects. "Wow, you certainly brought a bunch of stuff with you."

"Well, I couldn't decide," she grinned. "I didn't know what you'd think would be most fun. Hi, Dora," she leaned over and lifted up the cat. "Guess I could have brought Godric. Want me to go back and get him?" she asked Lucy.

"If you'd like, but you might want to come in and put your things down first," Lucy smiled, stepping back from the door.

Dinah let the things follow her inside, levitating them over so that they landed on the floor by the couch. After a quick race back to her rooms she had snagged her large cat and was back, placing him on the floor where he and Dora promptly ran off to the bedroom together. "They like sleeping under beds," she smiled. "They did that in my rooms when she snuck over that time. Didn't realize she was even there for ages!"

Lucy laughed, "Hopefully that's all they're doing. You'll never know Dora's around until she wants something though. She's sneaky like that." She chewed at her lip for a few moments before speaking, "So…the storm was still around Wednesday."

Dinah nodded. "And yesterday, too. Through this morning, in fact, although it wasn't as bad. Tommy is...doing better, I think," she said, also chewing her lip.

"That's…good. I heard Bella again Wednesday night," she said, softly.

"I see," Dinah agreed, "What happened? Were you okay? Sirius was there at least, right?"

"Yeah, he was. It was…different. She sounded different. Not so angry, more pleading. She said, 'my Lord' like she was looking for him."

"Looking for him..." Dinah looked thoughtful for a moment then looked up at Lucy with wide eyes, "Lucy, thank you! Do you know what this means? The other voice!"

"Um, other voice? I'm sorry I've got no clue what you're talking about. Should I?"

"Oh," Dinah laughed. "No. Sorry. Listen. The flayed baby – the evil part of Voldemort – when it's around or during these dark storms Tommy and I hear some sort of...well, whispering voices. They're quite sinister, I think connected to the dark magic. But Tommy has been telling me for a long time now about another voice he sometimes hears. But not an evil voice...one that is frightened by the darkness too. Last time I talked to him he said he thought the other voice wants to come close. I bet that's Bella! Her connection to Voldemort is reaching Tommy."

"Then that's good isn't it? It means she's moving on, or I'm forgiving her, or whatever! Oh, that is such a relief, especially after what I figured out that night," Lucy said, sighing and plopping on the couch.

"Yes, I think if she's trying to get close to him maybe you're allowing her to do that a little. Not holding her back so much with your thoughts of her. I don't know how she figures into all of this exactly but she definitely forged a very strong connection with her Dark Lord." Dinah sat next to Lucy on the couch. "So what is it you figured out that night?"

"Well," Lucy said, "We were lying in bed and I got to thinking. She didn't really hurt Sirius, not when she killed him anyway. It's not like she tortured him first or left him to die a slow, painful death. He was okay. I was the one that wasn't okay. She hurt me. I mean, I don't think she killed him to torture me or anything. After all I never even met her really and as far as I know there was no reason for me to even register as anything significant to her. But she still hurt me. I was the one left hurting and alone and she did that. I'm angry about that, not so much about his death really."

"Oh, I see," Dinah nodded, "I understand that. It's good that you finally realized that. And it's strong, too. Facing down all your worries to see them for what they really are. That's the first step towards recovery. And I think Bella probably sensed it, too."

"I hope so," Lucy sighed, "I don't have to like her, but I don't want to harbor any ill will towards her either. Now, tell me," she grinned, "has Severus recovered from my touching of his potions?"

"Um...yes..." Dinah paused, "Uh...Lucy?"

"Hmm?" She asked, looking over the arm at the things Dinah had brought. She recognized the television, the VCR, and the remote but that was about it.

"I, um..." she swallowed hard, "I...I wanted to...well, I'm just...um...Um...well, what do you want to try out this time?" she smiled but it looked forced and gestured to the electronics.

Lucy's brow wrinkled. That didn't sound at all like what her friend had wanted to say, but she wasn't sure pressing Dinah would be the right thing to do just now. After all, the younger girl had a lot on her plate at the moment. "Well, what's this?" she asked pointing to something that looked similar to the VCR with strings connecting a couple remote like things to it.

"I was hoping you might ask about that one!" Dinah grinned, reaching for it. "Let's try it out. It's called a video game. Like a movie, but you control what happens on the screen by pushing these buttons," she indicated the buttons on one of the remote things.

Lucy pushed a button on the remote Dinah had placed in her hand and frowned, "Nothing happened."

"Oh, honestly, Lucy," she laughed, levitating the remainder of the system and the television over onto the coffee table to get it set up properly. "How many times do we have to do this kind of thing before you realize that we have to turn it on first?" They laughed, and Dinah went about introducing Lucy to the wonder of video games.

* * *

Lucy, in her fox form, turned to shake her head at Snuffles who was now covered in mud. The rains had softened the grounds of Hogwarts considerably and they were still muddy on Sunday afternoon. Sirius, of course, had to roll around in it and run through all the puddles he could find. Lucy on the other hand picked her way across the grounds, flicking her paws to keep them as clear of mud as she could manage.

Eventually Sirius ran off to swim in the lake and wash himself off as he knew better than to think that Lucy would let him in her rooms that dirty. Lucy, on the other hand, jumped back abruptly when she nearly stepped on a hissing snake. She crouched in a defensive posture and hissed back at the snake. Fox generally ate snakes, but Lucy had no interest in doing so nor did she even know how to fight one effectively.

A strange hissing noise had both the snake and Lucy turning their heads, her ears twitching forward. She knew it hadn't come from the snake but was surprised to see that the only other thing around was Dinah. Surely she couldn't be….but as Dinah's mouth moved and more hissing sounds came out she knew it had to be true. Dinah was a parselmouth.

The snake and her friend hissed back and forth at each other. Lucy could only assume they were holding a conversation. After a moment the snake slowly slithered away from her and over to Dinah where her friend allowed it to climb halfway up her arm.

Lucy didn't hate snakes but she also knew better than to encourage poisonous snakes to crawl on you. Again the pair hissed at each other before Dinah smiled and nodded, tilting her head towards the snake and heading off to the side. She was still looking at Lucy as she moved to the grass, before slowly turning and kneeling to let the snake crawl off her arm and away from where the confrontation had taken place. When Dinah turned back, Lucy cocked her head, waiting for an explanation.

It was a couple moments before Dinah turned back to her, looking as if she was about to cry. She smiled, her voice calm as she spoke, "Lucy? You can transform back into a human now if you want. I told the snake that you weren't going to hurt her, and she's not going to come back. She thought you were a predator, but I said you were an animagus. You're both safe now."

Lucy looked off to the lake where Sirius was still splashing around, oblivious to what had just happened. Looking around, she didn't see anyone but she wasn't sure if she wanted to transform back just yet. She took a couple cautious steps towards her friend and sat. Right in a mud puddle. Lucy had to restrain herself from closing her eyes and letting out a frustrated sigh. Dinah looked so close to tears that she didn't want to give her young friend any cause to think she was mad at her.

"Oh. You don't want to transform?"

Lucy looked over to the lake again. She was afraid if Sirius saw she'd transform he'd think something was wrong and come running, but the look on Dinah's face implored her to change so they could talk. Lucy transformed and returned to her human form, still sitting in the puddle. For good or ill she had been wearing the loose shorts and long-sleeved shirt she'd worn to bed the night before.

"So... um... you're safe now," Dinah murmured, repeating herself as she stared down at her hands, her thumbs twiddling in her lap.

"Yeah…thanks. I-I didn't see it there and almost stepped on it," she knew they need to have a conversation but she had no clue how to go about it.

Dinah's head shot up again at Lucy's words and she started crying, "Thank you? You're saying thank you?" She bowed her head again and sniffled, wiping her eyes; "I'm sorry. It's just that you're not supposed to say thank you. You're supposed to run away screaming. Everyone always runs away screaming..."

"Have you ever known me to run away screaming?" Lucy asked quietly, "Pound my fist to bits and cry hysterically, yes, but not running and screaming. It-it makes me uneasy. I won't lie, but it's, well, Dinah you're just not a bad person. You can't be."

Dinah managed to laugh a little and hugged herself, "Thanks. No, I guess I never _have_ known you to run away screaming from anything. And it's okay if you're uneasy. Everyone is. I just...hope you still want to be my friend. For what it's worth you're the first person I've ever told – or shown – on purpose. Everyone else finds out by accident. Usually I have to _Obliviate_ them..."

"What about Severus?" Lucy couldn't stop herself from asking, shifting uncomfortably. The puddle was making her wet and cold but she didn't know if suggesting going in to Dinah was a good idea, plus it might force her to reveal the parseltongue to Sirius when she wasn't ready.

She shook her head; "He knows. But I didn't tell him on purpose. He found out by accident and I couldn't _Obliviate _him any more than I could _Obliviate_ you, no matter what your reactions. But he..." she smiled a little, "he was the first person to truly accept me for it, besides Dumbledore. Right away, he accepted me. He also says I'm not a bad person. Sometimes it's easier for other people to say it than it is for me to believe it."

Lucy nodded. She knew what that was like, but she wasn't ready to reveal that part of herself to her friend. She wasn't ready to think about that feeling too much herself, so she settled for a version of the truth. "I know how that is. I sometimes think that I've turned into a big coward, since his death," she nodded out toward the lake where she thought Dinah could see Sirius, who now seemed to be playing with the Giant Squid of all things. "I mean I used to be an Auror, you don't get approved for that job if you're a coward and before I didn't really feel like one often., but now I do all the time. The Weasleys, Sirius, Harry, Hermione, the Lupins; they'll all tell me I'm not but I'm not so sure I believe them."

Dinah nodded, smiling a little at the sight of the two creatures playing out in the lake. "We're always hardest on ourselves, I think. For what it's worth, I don't think you're a coward. You endured a lot of hardships recently, but everything you learned as an Auror didn't just disappear. I remember how fast you reacted on that day when Severus and Sirius had that confrontation..."

Lucy smiled at the friend who was now so much younger than her, "Thanks. I got in trouble for that little stunt I pulled actually and generally stepping between two parties intent on blowing each other to bits is not advisable but I knew there was no way Sirius was going to do anything with me standing in the way," she shivered as a cool breeze blew through.

"Um," Dinah smiled and pointed; "You're a little muddy."

"Yeah," Lucy said, laughing and holding her hands palms-out so Dinah could see the mud there too, "I am. I was trying not to get too muddy but then you wanted me to transform…Actually do you think you could help me with something?"

Dinah sniffled a final time and tucked a few loose strands of hair back behind her shoulder, feeling recovered and relieved. "Help you?"

Lucy grinned, "Yes, help me. I can't exactly go into Hogwarts looking like this nor do I think it's a wise idea to go in as a fox. Jania and Tad have already seen Snuffles wandering around. Septimus couldn't keep his mouth shut and told most of Slytherin we had a large dog that attacked him that one night. I don't want the students to see the pair of us together, that would just be too odd to brush off, and we were heading for the castle. Snuffles could walk in beside you but would you mind carrying me, hiding me in your robes and taking me to my rooms? The door's not locked so letting us in wouldn't be a problem. We could always go back to Hogsmeade and I can change if you'd rather not…"

"Um, no, I could do that. Sure. I think...well, could you tell Sirius about me being a parselmouth on your own? I think being present when one person finds out is enough for one day. You should tell him though. I'm trying to be more open to it. Dumbledore wants me to try and end the stigma. I don't know that I can do it but I'm going to try. It helps with more people on my side, though. I tried to tell you yesterday, but I just couldn't do it..."

"Ah, so that's what all the stuttering was about. I wondered. Sure, I can tell him as long as you're sure you want me to? I'm sure he'll be fine with it. I mean he's fine with Harry; his abilities went away but I don't see that it's much different. Do you think you can help me get my puppy out of the lake? I'd sort of like to transform back now if that's all right with you? It's chilly, I'm wet and not at all dressed for the weather."

"Sure, go ahead. Um...Lucy?"

"Yeah? Lucy questioned, ready to transform.

"Thank you," she said softly. "For trying to understand. I didn't ask for this ability, but I do like it. Snakes are good creatures and I enjoy talking to them. I just always wished it could be easier, that people would understand and not judge me for it. With Severus and you and hopefully Sirius too I'm finally getting that a little bit. So thanks."

"You're welcome," Lucy said before transforming back in to her fox and running up to Dinah. The other professor had just stood up and Lucy put her muddy front paws on Dinah's legs, looking for attention.

Dinah gave her an indulgent smile, and lifted her up, hugging her. "Thank you, Lucy," she said again.

Lucy yipped and snuggled in, grateful for the warmth Dinah was now providing. She faced the lake and yipped again, hoping either Sirius would hear her and come looking or Dinah would go to try and get him.

Dinah headed down an available path towards the lake, avoiding the grassy area where she'd released the snake. When she made it to the shore she called for Snuffles, who was still swimming off in the distance.

Lucy watched as the dog turned and, seeing who had called him, began swimming back to shore. When he reached land, Sirius shook himself off, making the two women damp in the processed. Lucy made a sound that told him she was annoyed and he just stared at them, tongue hanging out as was usual when he was having fun.

"Lucy wanted me to sneak her inside in my robes, while you walk beside me," Dinah said, "Is that okay with you?"

Snuffles nodded and rubbed up against Dinah, probably looking for attention but not doing much besides making her wetter.

"Aww," she smiled and petted him on the head, then wiped her hand on the light outer robe she was wearing. "You two are very cute, you know that?" She shifted Lucy around and tucked her under her arm, draping the edge of the outer robe over her. "We ready to go then?"

Lucy nodded, though Dinah couldn't see her. She heard Snuffles bark though and was able to peek out enough that she saw him start to head for the school.

Dinah started heading towards the school, Sirius trotting beside her. Soon they were inside the halls, passing a few students who shot them curious stares. Snuffles watched each of the students go by with his gaze locked on them.

They stopped in front of Lucy's rooms and Dinah opened the door, stepping in and shutting it before placing Lucy on the floor next to Sirius. "You know, you really shouldn't leave your door unlocked. Oh well," she smiled and hugged them both at once. Standing back up she asked, "Do you need anything else?"

Lucy transformed back into her normal self, standing and wrapping a blanket around her to warm up with. "Nope, I think that's it, thanks. I do normally keep my door locked when I'm not here but I was a bit of a rush when I left and did it without thinking. Everything's going to be fine," she said, stepping close and hugging her friend, "Now, go surprise Severus. I'm sure he'll welcome it."

"Thanks," Dinah murmured, closing her eyes. "Thanks so much. Yeah," she stepped back and smiled; "I'm sure Severus will welcome it. His meeting with Eugene should be over by now; he's probably fuming about it. I'll go see if I can ease the tension. See you both later," she gave them a wave and then headed off towards the dungeons.


	58. Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Lucy looked down at Sirius who had transformed back into his human form. "I'm going to take a nice warm bath and I want you to come with me," she told him, grabbing his hand and leading him to the bathroom, "_Not_ to join me. I want to talk to you."

"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting on a stool next to the tub, after having gone and put on a set of warm, dry robes of his own.

"Nothing. At least I don't think it's anything," she replied, grateful for the bubbles she'd added to her bath. Though they both knew she was naked beneath them, Lucy at least, felt like they were both paying more attention to the conversation.

Sirius waited in silence for her to tell him what she wanted to tell him.

"I came across a snake today, nearly stepped on it. Everything was okay though, Dinah took the snake away. She…she talked to it," Lucy looked up to watch Sirius's reaction, "She's a parselmouth. You can't think she's evil 'cause she's _not_. Harry was a parselmouth!" she tacked on as if that would make a difference in Sirius's reaction.

"Well, um, that's, uh, well, it's…interesting."

"See that's why she wanted me to tell you! She was afraid you'd react like that. You can't hate her and you can't treat her any different. You _can't_. She hasn't done anything wrong and she's my friend. She needs a friend like I need one. Maybe that's why we became friends at first I don't know, but I'm not going to stop hanging around her and that means you have to accept her too."

"Hey, hush," Sirius said, stroking her worried face. "It just worries me is all. I mean Voldemort was a…"

"But Dinah's not Voldemort. She's nothing like him. You know that."

"I do," he confirmed. "I'll do my best not to act weird around her. Do you want me to go down there now and tell her that?"

Lucy shrugged, "No, that's okay. Besides I'm sure Severus's warded the entire dungeon so that I can't enter, which likely means you too."

* * *

Lucy was heading back up to her rooms from the dungeons, having gone there to see if her friend was around, only to find she wasn't around. She'd wanted to tell Dinah about Sirius's reaction to her being a parselmouth but now that would have to wait. Staring down at her feet she turned a corner and ran straight into the person she'd been looking for.

"Dinah! Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"That's okay," Dinah said, "Where were you headed?"

"I was just coming back from the dungeons where I was looking for you. What's up with your hood? It's not raining in the Great Hall is it?"

Dinah flushed and managed a giggle. "Um...no. I was talking to Tommy. With – well, will you come down to the dungeons with me? I'll show you there."

"Sure," Lucy grinned, "but are you sure I'm allowed back in Severus's rooms?"

"If you stay in human form, yes. Although he might grumble at you a bit. Come on," she led the way down to the dungeons, unlocking the door just as a noise issued from down the hall, a soft thump as of someone hitting a wall. "What was that?"

"He's finally killed Eugene and is trying to hide the body? Though admittedly he's not doing very well with the second part," Lucy teased.

Dinah laughed, "Well, I hope not anyway. Oh well, let's get inside," she opened the door and they slipped in, walking through the dark office and into the living quarters. She walked to stand in front of the couch and faced Lucy, twiddling her thumbs.

"So, are you going to show me?" Lucy grinned, "It's not something kinky is it? I don't mind helping you pick out lingerie or something but a little warning first would be good."

She laughed again; "No, it's nothing kinky. But it might be fun to go to a lingerie store together at some point, be girly and all that. No, it's just...well, I've been trying to help Tommy and you know he's the missing good part of Voldemort. And Voldemort...shared my gift..." she hesitated.

"Oh. Right. I talked to Sirius about that. He said it worried him, but he agreed you weren't bad or evil or anything like that."

"I can deal with worry. It's not my favorite but it's better than hate..." she sighed, "Well, parseltongue has been sort of a point where Tommy and I connected. He still has all the memories from before he split off from Voldemort, so he remembers when they killed the snakes he talked to at the orphanage. I myself had a similar experience. In my first year here one had come in from the rain and I talked to it, then Slughorn had Filch kill it. I was ostracized ever since..."

"Oh, Dinah that's horrible," Lucy said, feeling miserable for what both Dinah and Tommy had witnessed, "I can't imagine…"

"Thanks," Dinah smiled. "Don't worry, I'm really not trying to make this into anything dramatic like last time, I just...wanted to prepare you. I thought that it would be good for both Tommy and me if we talked about being parselmouths together in a completely non-hostile environment. I even got a snake for us to talk to. So..." she lowered her hood; "this is Sarepta."

Lucy stared at the snake for a moment before speaking, "Well, she…it's a she I assume? She's kind of cute. That's not the one I almost…stepped on by accident is it?"

Dinah shook her head, "No, she's a little older and bigger than the one you found. She's been living here since last Wednesday, staying in the dungeons with Severus and with me too when I'm down here. I can...introduce you if you don't mind hearing a little bit of parseltongue."

"I think I can manage," was all Lucy could say.

"I'll be quick," Dinah promised, turning so she was looking at Sarepta. The strange hissing sounds Lucy had heard the other day came out of Dinah's mouth.

Then, as if instructed to, Sarepta nodded.

"She says hello," Dinah smiled, "She's really very friendly, but she keeps to herself a lot. Don't worry about her biting you. She'll just stay on the shelves and watch things going on around her."

"Hello," Lucy nodded back, "I like to keep to myself sometimes too. I only bite my fiancé and that's because he likes it." She knew she probably shared a bit too much but she was nervous.

Dinah laughed; "Do you want me to share that?"

"Um," Lucy laughed, a bit embarrassed, "if you want. She probably won't care but I didn't know what else to say."

Dinah and Sarepta hissed back and forth until Dinah went over to the bookshelf and the snake slithered onto it, curling up, watching them.

"Sarepta likes you. Thinks you seem nice," Dinah smiled, turning back and settling into the couch. "I can't look at her though, because what I say will come out in parseltongue. I'm going to try and work on controlling it better in the future, which should be easier if I can ever get up the courage to tell the world and try to change their opinions." She shrugged, "Well, one step at a time I guess."

Lucy nodded, sitting on the other end of the couch, "Yes, that's become my philosophy of late."

Dinah nodded just as Severus came into the room. He stopped when he saw them and nodded his greeting at Lucy; "Here to move more of my things?"

She snorted, "I'm not that stupid. I assume you've warded everything by now and if I tried to move anything you'd hex me bald or something."

"Do not exaggerate," he offered a slight smile; "However, I do intend to block my shelves with shield charms the next time you choose to transform into that fox."

Lucy wrinkled her nose at him, "Oh , now I wasn't that bad."

"I will be the judge of that," his gaze shifted upward and Dinah assumed he was looking at Sarepta; "So I see you've met our other guest, then? She may seem sinister at first glance, but the snake does not mess with my potions."

"Yes," she rolled her eyes, "Sarepta seems very nice and I'm not sure she could mess with your potions even if she wanted to."

"Yes, but you're missing the point. The point is that she does not want to," Severus smiled.

"But," Lucy countered, "It's not really in a snake's nature to be mischievous like it is in a fox's. Being an animagus means you do take on some of the animal's characteristics and instincts when transformed."

"Yes, your 'attention hound' who got Dinah and consequently me soaked on Sunday has shown me that."

Lucy giggled, "Sorry. He's just so enthusiastic about things and you can't blame him entirely. I'm the one that got her all muddy."

"He was playing with the giant squid. That was very cute," Dinah grinned at Lucy.

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Yeah. I think he's starting to get bored."

"He's coming tomorrow...right? Should I introduce him to Sarepta?" Dinah asked, looking nervous.

"Yes, he's coming. You can introduce them if you'd like. If nothing else it will give him something new to talk to Rosmerta about. Last time I saw her, she told me he spends a lot of his time there."

"Oh, um," Dinah began as Severus perched next to her on the arm of the couch. "Well, I don't think he should be telling Rosmerta about me. I need to tell people but I'm trying to do one at a time here. I don't think I'm ready yet. I want to tell Harry first..."

"Right, sorry," Lucy apologized, embarrassed, "So, you want to tell Harry?"

"I fail to understand why," Severus grumbled.

Dinah nodded; "It's hard to explain. I think it'll make more sense when I can talk to him about it and get my thoughts out. I'm kind of annoyed with him about it, actually. I don't think I can make a difference in the situation until I can voice this properly. Then maybe I'll be brave enough – strong enough – to tell the rest of the world."

"Annoyed with Harry? But why? I'm sorry I don't really understand what you mean. I didn't really know him when his whole parseltongue thing came out so maybe I've been out of the loop or something," Lucy said, frowning. For her part she was hoping people would stop worshiping Harry and, on the other hand, stop being overly critical of the boy as well.

"It's a parselmouth thing. You probably wouldn't understand," Dinah sighed. "Then again, apparently Harry doesn't understand either. It's not that I don't know where he's coming from, given that his parseltongue wasn't a natural ability, but...well I just need to talk to him. It's the way he worded it in his interview in the _Daily Prophet_ – that he was 'glad to lose it'. The ability, I mean. If all good people who can speak parseltongue keep up that attitude then nothing will ever change. His interview exacerbated that problem. In my opinion."

"Ah," Lucy nodded, "I think I understand where you're coming from. I don't think Harry meant it quite that way though. I think it was more that he was glad to lose that part of him that came from Voldemort, but I'm not him and I can't speak for him. Even if that is how he meant it that's not quite how it came out either," she said, shifting in her seat.

"Yes. That's why I just need to talk to him about it."

"If you yelled at him a bit I wouldn't be opposed," Severus said amiably, looping his arms easily around her shoulders from behind.

Dinah laughed, looking up at her boyfriend, "I'm not surprised. But I'm sure if I don't yell at him you'll do it for me."

Lucy again rolled her eyes, "He's not that bad Severus. Really."

"I can only change my old views so much in one year," Severus said teasing, placing a kiss on Dinah's cheek; "You two have done enough already."

Dinah smiled; "We tried our best."

"Yes," Lucy agreed, "we have. I'm sure we can keep working on it though, especially if we keep hanging around Dinah in animal form."

He sighed, shaking his head; "Then I believe I shall have to cast _Muffliato _on myself to block out the squeals."

* * *

"No, wait!" Lucy exclaimed, as Snuffles trotted into her rooms. "I told Dinah we'd go down and visit a bit so you might as well stay like that. Oh, don't give me that look," she said, locking the door behind her as they left, "They're giving us dinner."

Snuffles received a few stares from students as they walked down to the dungeons but none dared approach. The Slytherins in particular seemed afraid of the large, black dog who's tongue was currently hanging out of his mouth.

Severus's office door was left open and the couple went on through, stopping at the open door to his rooms and knocking.

Dinah turned to see the pair of them standing in the doorway and said, "Hi. Come on in. It looks like dinner is pork chops with rice, peas, and apple pie for dessert!"

"Mmm, apple pie. I like apple pie. Do you mind if we…?" she gestured to the door and then to Snuffles.

"Please, come on in and close the door. We just left it open for you. If you could close the office one too, I'd appreciate it. Sarepta is up on the shelves, Snuffles," she didn't look at the snake as she gestured. "I, um...wanted to introduce you, but she's scared since you're a dog. So she's going to stay on the shelf. Please don't frighten her."

Lucy closed the office door before coming to close the inner door. While she was doing that Snuffles sniffed around the room. He paid particular attention to Dinah and Severus, sneezing when he sniffed the latter.

"Problem, Black?" Severus scowled at his old enemy.

Snuffles looked at him with an indignant expression before transforming into Sirius, and grabbing Lucy around the waist, kissing her. "I've missed you," he said when he broke the kiss, not addressing Dinah just yet.

"I missed you too," she said, patting his arm, "Now, don't be rude. Say something to Dinah."

"Sarepta, you said? A snake friend of yours I presume?"

"Um…yes..." Dinah said, looking shy as Severus came to stand next to her. "She's helping me talk to Tommy."

"That's very…kind of her. I assume you haven't introduced her to your rat?"

"Oh. No," Dinah managed a nervous laugh. "No, she stays down in the dungeons away from the other animals. Helga would probably be a little big for her, anyway. But it's still better down here..." she turned to Sarepta and spoke in hissing sounds.

The snake hissed back, nodding at Sirius.

"She says hello," Dinah said, turning back.

"Hello," he nodded back at Sarepta. "So, I take it our being invited down here means we aren't banned? Lucy told me we might be banned from the dungeons after she messed around with some potions."

"Oh, I did not!" Lucy blushed, "And I didn't 'mess around' with some potions I simply moved them to areas where they looked nicer."

"Looked nicer!" Severus demanded. "How do you determine...why is magenta and blue switching somehow nicer than where they were originally?"

Dinah covered her mouth, apparently trying not to laugh, understanding that Lucy had been kidding around.

Lucy, in turn, rolled her eyes, "Aesthetically. Switched around like they were the colors around them then complemented each other wonderfully, rather than clashing as they had been before."

Severus's brow furrowed as he considered this; "You must have given it quite some thought, then. Are you artistically trained?"

"Oh, of course," Lucy said, trying hard not to laugh, "After leaving Hogwarts I spent my time learning about the art of interior decorating."

Dinah stifled another giggle as that comment seemed to _finally_ get through to Severus and he flushed, glaring at them both; "You are...'messing with me' again, aren't you? The both of you!"

"Just a bit," Lucy said, sitting at the dining table, "It's just so much fun!"

Grumbling, Severus yanked back a chair and sat down; "This entire year is going to be the end of me. ' Two new professors', the headmaster says. I think nothing of it, of course, the Muggle Studies position was open, Wizarding Literature seemed rather frivolous to me but you were qualified to teach it. I expect to ignore both of you and look what happens!" He spooned some peas rather aggressively onto his plate.

"You can't ignore Lucy," Sirius said, grabbing a pork chop, "I tried."

"You did no such thing! I'd known you for maybe twelve hours and you were already inviting me to use your shower."

Dinah chuckled and shook her head; "You two. And don't try to pretend to complain, Severus. You know you wouldn't have it any other way."

"Perhaps not," he agreed with a slight smile, taking a pork chop of his own.

"Speaking of showers; have you two switched shampoos recently?" Sirius asked.

Dinah and Severus exchanged confused glances; "No," she said as her boyfriend shook his head. "We've been using the same stuff. In my rooms we use my kiwi-scented stuff and here we us the plain fresh scent stuff," she flushed and Lucy noticed that Severus was a bit flushed, as well.

"What kind of question is that?" Lucy asked, turning to her fiancé.

"I'm not trying to be nosey," he insisted, "I smelled the ever suspicious scent of pomegranate shampoo on them is all."

Dinah dropped her fork, her eyes widening as she exchanged another glance with Severus; "Are we being followed?"

He frowned, turning to look back at Sirius; "Did the room smell of pomegranate shampoo or just us?"

"The scent was strongest on the pair of you but the room did smell a bit too," he said, taking a bite out of the pork chop.

Lucy looked around the table, worried, "So, what does this mean? _Are_ you being followed? Is someone after you? Who? Why? Not Slughorn, surely. Maybe Eugene…"

"If Eugene smelled of that then Black would have gotten the scent sooner than this," Severus said. "It must be the test subject. We have yet to even see him or identify him and somehow he's been following us."

Lucy nodded, trying to think of how the test subject could possibly be following her friends without anyone noticing.

"Is there a possibility the test subject has some sort of Invisibility Cloak or something like it?" Sirius asked, surprising Lucy with his insight.

Now it was Severus's turn to drop his fork; "Potter! You don't think that he managed to get a hold of Potter's cloak? He needs that cloak, it's..."

"Oh, no, it is, isn't it? But if Harry's cloak had gone missing he would have told one of us right away. He knows how dire the circumstances are. Maybe it's a more generic cloak," Dinah suggested, looking a little panicked.

"Possibly. Or he's been using Potter's cloak when Potter is here and returning it to him before he notices it has gone missing."

"As far as I know Harry's cloak is right where he's packed it," Sirius said.

"If you ask me stealing it and then putting it back so Harry doesn't know his cloak is missing would be more trouble than it's worth, but who knows what goes through criminal's minds."

"I guess I'll mention it to him on Saturday," Dinah sighed. "Dumbledore said that's the earliest day he can get here."

"Harry's coming?" Sirius asked, "He usually lets me know when he's going to be around, stays at the house when he's not patrolling."

"Well, I'm guessing that's not the case this time because it seems he's heading up some other sort of important project. Top secret I guess, but it's not really important. He can only come briefly and I did kind of throw the request at him out of the blue."

Sirius nodded, going back to his food.

"Well, um, do you think we might be able to do that intervention for Derwent and Amedeus soon? It's getting towards the end of the year…" Lucy asked, changing the subject.

"Of course. Whenever you think is best. This was sort of your project; I think that's why we haven't said anything," Dinah told her.

"But now that you mention it, sooner would be preferable. I do _not_ like sitting back and allowing my Slytherin students to cheat. Or any students, for that matter," Severus growled.

"I think you'd be okay with Gryffindors cheating as long as you got to take massive amounts of points away from them," Lucy grinned, "I think sometime late next week would be good, gives us time to plan a strategy."

"Sure. You should talk with Derwent and Amedeus and try to find out when they might be in the library. They must have some kind of predictable schedule."

"Of course. I've noticed they're there about an hour after dinner pretty regularly but I can check so that we're sure," Lucy said. She'd been spending time in the library on the days when Sirius wasn't around.

"All right. Just give us a day and time and Severus will be happy to exercise his destructive forces on the students."

"I admit," Severus said with a mild smile as he took some peas onto his fork; "It should be rather satisfying."


	59. Chapter 59

Chapter 59

"Do you really think by next week it'll all be over?" Agrona asked, looking hopeful.

"I certainly hope so," Lucy told her, "Of course I can't promise that he will get out of this without some teasing and ridicule, though I hope he does. I'm afraid of the negative effect this might have on his confidence and it certainly won't help him in the friend department either, but he'll have you and you did mention getting Derwent to hang out with some of your other friends."

Agrona nodded, "Yep. We've gone walking by the lake with Fin and Eloise from Hufflepuff a couple times. Derwent seems to like them well enough. He's kind of unsure around them but he's friendly. I think it's mostly from those other Slytherin boys and the pure-blood, Slytherin superiority. Honestly I don't know whatever got into those boys' heads. We aren't any better or worse than the other houses. It's actually kids like the ones bothering Derwent and Amedeus that give us Slytherins a bad reputation among the houses."

"Yes, I'm afraid that's true. Even I'd have to admit to some house prejudice carried over from my school days but it warms me to see Slytherins like you who are accepting of others and who are fair and work hard, while still retaining those characteristics that make you a Slytherin."

"Thank you. The Sorting Hat nearly put me in Hufflepuff but then I thought of…well, Derwent said he mentioned a bit about my parents."

"Yes," Lucy said, "He mentioned that your parents had lost much in the First Wizarding War, that you'd had to rely on your Aunt and Uncle for support."

"Yes, and they made sure we knew it as well," Agrona said, looking bitter, "They've made it so Mum and Dad have no hope of ever getting back on their feet. They both have jobs but between paying the outrageous rent we're charged, the debts they can rarely make payments on, and paying for my school supplies they can't manage to get enough saved to have a house of their own. I'm determined to have my own shop as soon as I can manage after I leave Hogwarts. Something like Madam Puddifoot's I think, but less…foo foo."

"That's a wonderful goal Agrona and I for one hope you can manage it. I know a number of boys, and men for that matter, who would approve of a place without all the frills of the good Madam's shop. You've got another year at Hogwarts yet; if you haven't already, you might want to think about taking a job with Madam Puddifoot."

"Oh, I've already got one. It's not with Madam Puddifoot, but it's someplace similar and it's close to home for the summer. I hope after we leave school Derwent and I will be able to get a place up here, or maybe near Diagon Alley. Either way I just want us to be together and working towards something, getting a place of our own, maybe having Mum and Dad live with us for a bit, help them out at least."

"I hope you're able to make all that happen Agrona. It sounds like you'll be very happy."

* * *

A knock on her Hogsmeade House door, had Lucy putting her book aside to answer it.

"Harry!" Lucy exclaimed, after opening the door, "What are…I thought you were…shouldn't you be back in London?"

"I'm on my way back. Thought I'd stop by and say hi before taking off."

"Well, come in! Sirius just went out. He's picking up some dessert from Madam Puddifoot's but he shouldn't be too long."

"That's all right," Harry said, stepping inside and sitting in an empty chair, petting Dora when she hopped up onto his lap, "I actually wanted to talk to you."

"Me?" Lucy asked, thoroughly confused. She got on well enough with Harry but generally it was Sirius or Ron and Hermione he went to if he wanted to talk about something, not Lucy.

"Yes. You know Professor Samson rather well don't you?"

"We're friends, yes," Lucy answered, sitting in the chair opposite Harry. She was starting to wonder just what had been said at the meeting earlier that day.

"I just came from a meeting with her. She told me, rather emphatically, that I didn't do my duty by all the parselmouths of the world when I told _The Daily Prophet_ that I was glad I'd lost the ability to speak to snakes."

"Oh," Lucy said, "well, I think she had a point. That was a good opportunity to help end the stigma of people who speak parseltongue. Of course at the same time you are only eighteen. A mature eighteen," she added at his almost offended look, "but still eighteen. You might be of age but you're hardly an adult yet. You're a child who had too much thrust on you too soon. You wield great influence over people, whether you like it or not, but you've never been taught how to deal with it really."

"Yes, exactly!" Harry said, looking as if he were thrilled she'd understood, "I didn't really think about the implications of what I'd said at the time. They were just answers honest to what I was feeling."

"Mmm," Lucy said, standing and ruffling his hair, "As long as you understand what you did and try to do better in the future I think all will be well."

"Lucy! Madam Puddifoot threw in some extra—oh Harry!" Sirius said, coming into the room.

"Sirius," Harry nodded, getting up to hug his godfather and dumping Dora on the floor.

"Are you staying for the night? Or for dessert at least?" Lucy thought he almost looked like he didn't want Harry to stay.

Harry laughed, "No, no. I've got to get back to London. They've got me on a top secret project. Just stopped in to say hi."

"Oh, well that's disappointing but if you must be off, you must be off," Sirius said, holding the door for the departing Harry.

"I'll visit when I can," Harry promised, stepping out of the house and aparating away.

"He really just stopped by to say hi?" Sirius asked, closing the door.

""Mmmhmm," Lucy hummed, wrapping her arms around his waist, "And to talk. We had a nice chat, tidied everything up and all is well again. No need to worry. Now what did Madam Puddifoot give you extra of?"

"Pudding."

"Oooh. That's good. Pudding is always…delicious," she said, pulling him up the stairs.

* * *

"Ah, Miss Ketteridge!" Slughorn greeted Lucy Monday morning. She spared a brief thought that she really should start taking meals in her rooms. "There you are. Do you have any idea why Severus and Dinah would have canceled their classes for today?"

"I wasn't aware they had. Where did you hear that?"

"From Eugene. He said that Severus sent him a note saying that classes _must_ be canceled for today without any explanation whatsoever. The boy was worried he'd done something horribly wrong or that there'd been some new development, like they'd been youthened again or some such. I did my best to assure him that if he hadn't noticed by now Severus was a rather blunt sort of person and it wouldn't do to speculate the reasons behind the cancellations as he wasn't likely to find the answers he wanted anyway."

Lucy nodded, "Good advice. Severus isn't one to give out information if he doesn't want to, even less so when pressed. It's likely nothing more than they need some time alone to research something or other. I'm sure if something was terribly wrong Dinah would have let me know and I'm not about to go marching into their rooms demanding answers on behalf of Eugene."

"Ah, quite right, quite right. If you'll excuse me I need to be going. Must prepare the rooms for another potions class you know."

Lucy smiled, waving him off. If there was something wrong she hoped Dinah would let her know or ask for her help. If she didn't hear from her friend by tomorrow morning, she'd go make sure everything was alright, much like Dinah had done after Lucy had been attacked by Septimus.

* * *

Lucy made a determined march down into the dungeons. Yesterday all the students seemed capable of focusing on was the mysterious absences of Professors Snape and Samson. Lucy herself was worried about her friends and had heard nothing from them. Knowing they tended to congregate in Severus's rooms she hurried down there before her stomach insisted it would rather eat than check on her friends.

Three sharp raps on their door should get their attention, Lucy thought, and stood there waiting for an answer. Maybe Dinah thought she was mad at her for what she'd said to Harry over the weekend. But that didn't explain Severus's absence or how Dinah could possibly know Harry had stopped by to talk to Lucy about that. Lucy found herself getting very anxious and was about to turn away and head to breakfast when a very different looking Severus answered the door.

"Yes," he said with a straight face.

Lucy felt her eyes grow wide as she squeaked, "P-professor Snape!" She quickly covered her mouth not sure what would come out next.

His subdued expression changed to one of mild amusement and he offered her a half-smile, half-smirk; "Lucy. Good morning."

"Sorry," Lucy mumbled, removing her hand. Was she really seeing the professor who had drilled potions into her standing there in front of her, just as he had been months before? "It's just…you're tall."

He looked like he was going to laugh, something she still wasn't used to seeing when he looked like this; "Interesting comment. I believe-"

"Severus," Dinah said coming into view and looping her arm into her boyfriend's, "Is it Eugene or – Oh! Lucy!" she exclaimed, smiling when she saw her standing in the doorway; "Good morning!"

It was a shock to see both of them looking very adult this morning. She was afraid if she suffered one more shock, especially in conjunction with not having eaten yet this morning, she would faint dead away. "Dinah!" Lucy squealed, "You're…you're tall too!"

She watched Severus turn an amused gaze to an equally amused Dinah, "I said the same thing to her and her response was quite similar. She seems to not be responding well this morning."

Lucy could only stare at the adult-sized couple. Her mind didn't seem to be processing much this morning, much like Severus had said.

"Oh, Severus," Dinah laughed, shaking her head at him and turning to Lucy. "So, I guess you've noticed our potion was sort of ...reversed."

"Um, yes. It certainly looks that way, doesn't it? I just came to see if everything was all right? Everyone was concerned yesterday when you cancelled classes. That seemed to be all the students could talk about," Lucy babbled, beginning to wring her hands together.

Dinah smiled, looking reassuring; "We're fine, thank you. We changed back on Sunday and sort of took yesterday alone so we could adjust to our adult forms again. It was a little bit...overwhelming, I'll admit, but we're quite well now. We've gotten used to it."

"Oh," Lucy nodded, a little hurt that her friend hadn't seen fit to tell her about this before, but trying to be understanding. After all there were things that had occurred in her life that she hadn't felt the need to run and tell Dinah about. "I'm glad you're all right…and that you're adults again. That's nice. I-I suppose I'll just head up to breakfast now, then," she said, taking a step backwards.

"Lucy, are you all right?" Dinah called, walking up to her and stopping her before Lucy could get far. "You seem nervous. If you want to stay and eat with us you can, I'm sure," she turned to Severus.

"I have no problem with it," he replied.

"Oh, well, if you're sure. You might want to be alone…together," Lucy said, trying to gage her friend's reactions by staring at her face.

Dinah laughed; "I think we did enough of that yesterday, and we really don't have that much time left until classes start. I have a break early on but Severus does not." She paused, "Lucy, are you mad that we didn't tell you right away? It's nothing personal. It was just ...very overwhelming, like I said. We needed to be alone to get comfortable. We weren't functioning very well, that's all. You were one of the first people that I wanted to tell, I just didn't think. And we were avoiding the Great Hall because it would be a bit much to reveal ourselves to the entire school population at one time..."

Lucy sighed. She hadn't meant to make her friend feel bad. "I'm not mad, no. It's just…no, it's nothing. Really," she insisted, "I can only imagine how overwhelming it must have been for the both of you. I should start avoiding the Great Hall. Slughorn was asking me all sorts of questions yesterday, as if I should know something. Especially after I'd already told him I didn't even know you'd cancelled classes…" she trailed off, her stomach taking that moment to rumble, making Lucy blush.

Dinah laughed. She must know how it was. After all Dinah's appetite was something of a source of amusement for Severus. "Come on, eat with us. The friendly company will be nice, at least for Severus because he gets to go see Eugene after this." Severus scowled at Dinah's words, before the now older woman led them all into the main room. "You said Slughorn was asking you questions? Does he...know anything?"

"Yes," Severus muttered, sitting down across from Dinah. Lucy remembered that voice from classes and Order meetings. He then turned his intense, questioning gaze on Lucy making her shift in her seat. "Because we are at this point unaware of how the reversal happened."

Lucy shook her head, shoving aside the kippers but spooning in some extra porridge, "I don't think he knows anything. He wasn't acting any weirder than normal anyway. Just asked if I knew why you had cancelled classes, said he warned Eugene not to come and press Severus for a better explanation. Then he rushed off saying he had to set up for his potions class."

"Hm. Slughorn can be useful after all," Severus said mildly, spooning himself some porridge. "I suppose then that I have him to thank for Eugene not coming bursting in on me this morning or during yesterday's solitude."

Lucy giggled, feeling better about the whole situation and shoving some food in her mouth, "Yes, I suppose so," she said around a mouthful of porridge, "Sorry."

Dinah had to laugh; "Don't eat so fast; you don't want to turn into _me_, do you?"

"I'm afraid you're rather unique in that respect, my darling," Severus murmured, turning a smile to her.

"Yes, I try to be," she flushed and took a bite of kipper.

"So, um, got any plans for the next couple weeks?" Lucy asked, not really sure what else to say.

Dinah sighed, looking as overwhelmed as she said she'd been earlier, "I think we can barely see much past one day at a time at this point, at least until the prophecy thing blows over. We were attacked by the flayed baby again on Sunday before we...changed. We also think the test subject was following us around again. But enough of our problems. Are we still on for the Derwent and Amedeus thing?"

"Oh!" Lucy said, wiping her mouth off with a napkin. She'd almost completely forgotten about her little pet project. "Yes, later this week. In the library. I couldn't talk to Derwent but Agrona assured me that the timing would be fine and she'd make sure to tell Derwent about it so he wasn't caught off guard."

"Good," a small smile played across Dinah's lips, giving her a very mischievous look, "You know, at this point we could probably just step back and let Severus take over. I'm sure he'll enjoy exercising his frightening powers of discipline on the students again, won't you darling?"

"Hm," Severus hummed, "Mildly. But this is Lucy's project. I will interfere as much as she wants me to."

Lucy grinned, appreciating the offer but thinking that if he knew her better he might not be so willing to step back and let her take the lead. "Oh you can interfere as much as you want. I don't really yell at the students much and I'm not big on the intimidation factor. Plus you might have noticed I'm not usually good with the whole conflict thing….I just couldn't let this go though. Derwent's a good kid and Amedeus seems like one too."

"Yes, well they are obviously talented enough to falsify other students' work," Severus snarled, placing his napkin down and standing from the table; "I'm sorry, but classes are beginning soon and I would like to arrive early enough that Eugene's reaction to the 'de-youthening' is not exposed to all of the students of my class."

"Yes, alright," Lucy said, feeling thoroughly kicked out and shrinking back a bit from her rather intimidating colleague, "I suppose I should be going too then." She put her spoon back down in the nearly empty bowl and stood from the table, shoving her chair back in.

"No rush," Dinah said, walking around the table to her boyfriend, looking as if she truly wanted Lucy to stay, "Severus just has to leave. We can take our time. Good luck with Eugene," she told him.

"I shall need it. Please lock the doors behind you," he kissed her. Lucy turned her head, ridiculously embarrassed. After all it wasn't as if she'd never seen them kiss before and they'd certainly seen her kissing Sirius. "Oh, and enjoy whatever plan you have for waltzing into your classroom. I shall leave the more genial joys of teaching to live vicariously through you."

"And I'll let you scare everyone silly in my place," she grinned. "Let's meet back down here at lunch and you can let me know how it went with Eugene. Unless he feels some sort of need to seek me out first."

"I'll try to prevent that," he frowned, bidding her a final farewell before leaving.

"Quite frightening, isn't he?" Dinah grinned, after the door clicked shut. Lucy positive she still looked nervous.

"Very," Lucy pointed towards the door and whispered; why she had no clue, "Did I ever mention that he gave me the only detention I had at school? I'd rather not repeat the experience."

"Lucy, Lucy," Dinah said, placing a hand squarely on her shoulder; "You should worry a little less, you know? Severus likes you. And there's no way he can give you a detention at this point, even if he wanted to. His bark is worse than his bite; you should know that by now. At least to those of us that he considers his friends."

Lucy laughed, thinking back to a recent incident, "He might not be able to give detention but I'm not so sure he considers me a friend, especially after I moved his potions around," she teased.

Dinah stared at her, looking a little hurt and Lucy suddenly felt horrible. She hadn't meant to hurt her friend at all. She knew Severus liked her well enough. If he hadn't she wouldn't have gotten past his office door. "Lucy, he _does_ consider you his friend. He was friendly to you when you arrived today, wasn't he? He offered to let you take care of your Derwent and Amedeus project if you wanted to, right? He...he told me that night, before you turned into a fox and messed with the potions that you still think he hated you. That actually bothered him a lot. He's not the most social person but he does care what others think of him and you are one of those people that he does consider a friend. Sure, he likes to intimidate people but that's who he is. And he honestly wasn't _that_ angry about the potions. He was almost amused by it, and I'm serious I actually _do_ think he enjoys getting all frustrated about that sort of thing. On some level."

Dinah broke off for a moment, laughing. "Sorry, that was a mouthful. I guess your babbling is rubbing off on me. But if you need any further reassurance that Severus doesn't hate you, think back to the Valentine's Day incident. That was the young Severus before he started taking on some of his adult behaviors again, but it was still Severus."

Lucy was having trouble processing all that information. She did remember those incidents and his offer to let her lead the Derwent situation but she'd had no clue he'd worried about her still thinking he hated her. She didn't think that, hadn't for quite some time. "Dinah, I wasn't really worried that he hated me. Honest. I mean, did I, at one point think he did? Yes. But that was back during the Order days, not now. In his defense any time he came across me I was generally on, near or under Sirius, which is probably why I even thought he hated me then. If I even _thought_ I was anything but safe in his presence I wouldn't dare touch anything of his. I don't like it when people hate me, I doubt anyone does, but I can assure you even if Severus did feel that way about me it's much better than no feeling at all."

"I see," Dinah sighed, her eyes not meeting Lucy's, "Sorry, I wasn't trying to bombard you with anything. I just really want you to understand that he does think of you as a friend. I mean, Severus is not the type to want to have to come to you and say; 'Lucy, you are my friend.' I mean, he can't really do that."

"Dinah, look at me," Lucy encouraged. Her friend not being able to keep eye contact with her worried her. It was what she did when she was having a bad day. She waited until Dinah's eyes returned to hers, "I understand. Plus it would be bloody weird to just walk up to someone and announce they're your friend. Don't you think?"

She laughed; "Yes, I suppose. Good, I just...well you seemed like you weren't sure and I wanted to make sure you knew that. Oh, and by all means go ahead and let him intimidate you every now and again. I think he actually likes it. Just don't take it too seriously," she grinned.

Lucy laughed, grateful her friend looked happy and content again, "I'll do my best. Now," she said, "I've got a break and you do too. Did you want to hangout or did you have something else to do?"

Dinah agreed to hang out and they sat around chit chatting for another hour or so until Lucy had to leave and go to her office hours; Dinah, in turn, going to her first class of the day.


	60. Chapter 60

Chapter 60

"I've got something to tell you," Lucy said, curled up next to Sirius.

"Hmm?" he asked, looking down at her.

"Well, maybe you heard, or saw…you might already know then…but, well, it seems Dinah and Severus are, well they're adults again."

She felt him go very still beneath her. Chewing on her lip when the silence stretched on Lucy was about to get up to look at him when he said, "Really?"

She sighed, nodding, "Yes, really. I saw them yesterday and at meals today."

"Do you think the potion just wore off? I doubt it. I swear they were being followed. Probably still are. I hope they don't think being adults again means all the problems with Eugene and the test subject have disappeared."

"I don't think they do, but it's nice to see you're concerned about them, especially Severus," she said, grinning.

"I am _not _worried about Snape," Sirius insisted.

Lucy wrapped her arms around him, "Its okay you know. You don't have to be his best friend to be concerned about him." Men could be so funny that way, not wanting others to know they cared about other males.

"I'm _not_ worried about him!" he repeated, "The man was a Death Eater and spy for the Order for Merlin's sake. I think he can take care of himself."

"He can," Lucy agreed, "but it's still nice to worry about him."

* * *

After dinner Thursday, Lucy walked down to the library where she had promised to meet Severus and Dinah for the planned confrontation. "Hi," she greeted, "How'd you two make it down here before me? I swear when I left Dinah was still eating."

"Um... we've been here so many times that we have the perfect secret efficient route mapped out to the library?" Dinah offered, causing Severus to laugh and shake his head at her.

Lucy laughed, pulling a book off a nearby shelf and sitting at the table. She'd thought she had a quick route down here but apparently not as fast as Dinah's. "I spent a lot of time here as a student. Thought I had a pretty fast route down. Looks like I was wrong."

Dinah laughed; "Looks like it. Although granted you didn't have to get down here in a hurry in order to avoid people gaping at you for one and a half months before they got used to your youthening."

"Very true," Lucy said, studying her book. Her stomach churned at the thought of the confrontation that was about to occur. She'd never done well with conflict. It was probably something she should have considered when she accepted the position at Hogwarts. "Here they come," she murmured.

She watched as Derwent nearly dropped one of the books he was carrying and knocked into one of the older boys. The boy, one she didn't recognize, snarled and shoved Derwent back. Not hard enough to attract the attention of anyone not looking but enough that Derwent knew he'd wronged the boy somehow. Amedeus traveled at the back of the group, careful not to commit any supposed sin that would get him shunned. Neither boy appeared to be thrilled with what they knew was coming.

"Whenever you're ready," she whispered at a snarling Severus.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than he slammed the book he was reading shut and stood. His movements and the expression on his face were ones she remembered well from her time as a student. Someone had done wrong and he was about to gleefully exact revenge.

Lucy almost giggled when Dinah squeaked and stood.

"There is no need to be nervous," he said, raising an eyebrow at his girlfriend.

"Uh, right," she flushed.

Like the other two, Lucy stood from the table, a little slower but equally powerful, or at least she thought it was. She valiantly led the way to the table of Slytherin boys, though she was nervous enough to have gotten an upset stomach, and stopped behind a couple of boys who were charming a bit of parchment to sing a rather rude version of the now infamous "Weasley is Our King" quidditch song.

"Mr. Corner," Severus said in a sharp, but quiet tone, "do we normally shove our housemates in the middle of the library?" He crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking rather intimidating if she was any judge of it.

"Professor Snape!" the boy, a Mr. Corner apparently, exclaimed, looking shocked but hardly remorseful, "Oh, you saw that, did you?"

"Yes, we did," Lucy told him, also crossing her arms in front of herself and frowning, hoping to look stern, "and I don't think that is acceptable behavior in, or outside, a library."

The boy sitting next to Mr. Corner, one she recognized as the sixth year, Erasmus McBride sneered at her, "And what would you know about what is and isn't acceptable behavior? Always holed up in your rooms with that attack dog of yours. Gone on weekends. Off with your fiancé no doubt. My Mum and Dad would have a thing or two to say about that, I'm sure."

Lucy's mouth dropped open. She could hardly believe that a student could speak in such a manner. Words would not form in her brain for her to speak as one of her fears seemed to be realized.

Thankfully Dinah was able to murmur, "How dare you speak to one of your Professors in that way?"

She didn't see the expression on Severus's face and barely caught the blur that was his hand snatching a notebook from Erasmus's hands. He turned it over and appeared to examine the words on the parchment. "And what have we here, Mr. McBride?" he murmured. Sometimes the quieter someone spoke; the worse it was for the person who had caught their attention. That was the case with Severus, who's voice had dropped to little more than a whisper. "This looks like the essay I assigned to your class on Tuesday. Odd... the writing matches that of Mr. Lympsham..."

"We've been studying with Lympsham and Flint," the older boy from earlier spoke up. He seemed to be a cocky sort. "They give us writing tips. That's not illegal."

"It is," Lucy said, recovering her voice, "when the handwriting matches that of Mr. Lympsham's. And this," she said, yanking a parchment out from McBride's elbow, "looks like Mr. Flint's handwriting. Funny that neither Mr. Lympsham's nor Mr. Flint's names are on these parchments, but rather they seem to be identified as yours."

"They're just practice pages," another boy spoke up, unable to keep the slightly sunburned look from his cheeks; "They give us suggestions and we take them and write our essays based on the ideas they give us. These aren't our final papers."

"I see, Mr. Blekinsop," Severus said. "Then I must commend you boys. Because...clearly... Lympsham and Flint's advice has paid off immensely. It has not slipped my notice that all of your papers have been...quite improved over the last few months," he raised an eyebrow at the collective table.

"In fact, if I did not know any better..." he flipped a few pages back in the notebook he was still holding, and then slammed it down in front of its owner, his voice finally raising a little as he pointed to the words filling the page; "What do you have to say to this, Mr. McBride? What appears to be a full essay, not simply notes, matching the one you handed in to me, but in Mr. Lympsham's handwriting?"

"Um, uh….they offered!" Erasmus exploded, trying to throw the blame onto the two boys who were cowering in their seats.

"In exchange for what?" Lucy asked, her color rising from anger, "I'd say you lot are lucky you haven't been immediately expelled. Do you know what the consequences of plagiarism, which is what you're practicing, is outside of these walls? Hefty fines I'm sure your parents would be appalled to be forced to pay followed by two months in Azkaban," she held up two of her fingers in front of her emphasizing the number of months to be spent in the wizarding prison.

"Not to mention ostracism from wizarding society and a near guarantee that even once you are released from prison you will be unable to get any kind of decent job due to the permanent black marks on your records," Dinah added, narrowing her eyes.

"Can any one of you students give me a reason not to remove all points from Slytherin, expel you, and drag you out of Hogwarts by the tail of your robes only to prohibit reentry and leave you at the mercy of the dangerous creature and dementors that have been roaming the grounds this year?" Severus demanded, his voice a low snarl and his teeth bared at them in a way Lucy could never recall seeing either in her time as a professor or as a student.

"I think," Lucy said, trying to be calm, "as long as the Headmaster agrees, detentions and extra assignments might be sufficient. After all, we are not in the business of ruining lives. No matter how wrong and immoral their actions might have been."

"At this point they deserve ruin," Severus snarled, beginning to circle the table. "I would like to think that our house is sending capable, successful Slytherins with a certain amount of house pride out into the world, _not_ a lot of lazy, cheating dunderheads."

"We're just being cunning and ambitious like Slytherins are supposed to be!" a sixth year boy Lucy thought she'd heard called Freddy protested.

She watched as Severus snatched Freddy's notebook out of his hands and swatted him over the head with it. Lucy winced, mirroring the boys' reaction. She remembered how that felt, "Ambitiousness and cunning do not include cheating and skimping on your own workload. Ambition ceases to be strength when it is used to exploit others and disrespect your own abilities. I am ashamed to have the lot of you in my house."

"Perfectly worded," Dinah murmured.

"Exactly," Lucy agreed with a sidelong glance at Dinah's flushed face. Her gaze also allowed her to see that they were now attracting a fair amount of attention from the other students in the library, Mae and Andrew Speasy peeking through some shelves, and the ire of Madam Pince. "It is not the intention of anyone at the school that each House should use its traits to get ahead in a dishonest manner."

The students started to look a little deflated, and Severus's smirk changed to one of satisfaction. But Frank Corner had to throw in one more line; "You let us cheat in Quidditch, Professor Snape."

"Quidditch and academics are two different things!" he shouted, smacking Frank upside the head. The boy ducked, rubbing the back of his head. "And I shall no longer suffer your pathetic Quidditch cheating either, so thank you for bringing it up. If you cannot win through honest means then you do not deserve the Quidditch Cup this year. Further cheating – if it is brought to my attention – will not be tolerated. But it pales in comparison to your academic dishonesty. I may be your head of house but I am also your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Do you think I simply hand out these assignments to amuse myself? Same with your other professors!" he took a brief moment from his chastisement to gesture at Dinah and Lucy.

Freddy sneered, though it had nothing on one of Severus's, and said, "None of us are in _her_ classes except those two," he said, jerking his chin at Lucy and then at Derwent and Amedeus, "And those of us in seventh year are only in her class," he indicated Dinah this time, "because we're forced to be."

Lucy gasped, wondering what sort of retribution this remark would bring on the boy.

"Fifty points from Slytherin for your outrageous comment and blatant disrespect!" Severus shouted, "The headmaster designs class requirements as he sees fit and it is not your place to judge that, Mr. Urquhart. And it is irrelevant to whose classes I am referring; you have plenty of other professors besides the three of us standing here that you have to contend with. And considering that you have been cheating for probably months now I doubt you have any cause to continue opening your big mouth, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," nearly everyone at the table mumbled.

"Now, I hope we've made it clear, cheating is not acceptable. This incident will be reported to Dumbledore and I'm guessing he and Professor Snape will have a meeting or two to determine exactly what your punishment will be. This is your second chance," Dinah said, looking at each boy in turn, "You won't get a third."

"Yes," Severus sneered, his voice soft and dangerous again; "And I will take one-hundred more points from Slytherin. I should take more but I will not punish the entire house for the actions of one group. Instead, you shall all be serving detention with me for the remainder of the year during which time you will be forced to undertake various manual labor tasks all without the use of magic. Additionally, I'm afraid that I cannot guarantee that the headmaster will be as ... _merciful_ as me. Because you should all be at least held back a year if not expelled. At most you shall have to make up each and every assignment you have skipped out on this year. And you should be grateful to those ridiculous Muggle-born Slytherins that have been working under the radar to keep our point total at a respectable level. As it is, we might still have a chance at the house cup. _If_..." here he growled again, "You do nothing further to muck it up."

"And as for you two," Severus turned a pointed stare on Derwent and Amedeus; "You will both be serving detention as well, for having the sheer _gall_ to continue and uphold this charade without informing _any_ faculty member of the problem. If I see any of the rest of you," he glared back at the group; "spending time with Mr. Lympsham or Mr. Flint or there is any sort of suspicious activity going on with regards to them you are all going to wish you had never been born.

I expect no further association between these two halves of the table from this point forward, do you understand me?" he stuck an arm in-between the two end seats where Derwent and Amedeus sat and the rest of the table to illustrate his point.

Lucy barely stopped herself from giggling. At least this way the two boys wouldn't be receiving any backlash from telling on the others. She watched as Derwent and Amedeus scurried out of the library, away from the professors and the students who'd tormented them. "I think," she said, turning to look at Severus, "we're done here."

"Ideally," he shot the students one more glare before marching back around the table to stand on Lucy's other side. "Expect to hear further instruction by tomorrow with regards to your punishments," he snarled his final orders at the table, turning to face Lucy.

"Well, I've no desire to sit here any longer and read but if you want the two of you can join me in my rooms to continue researching," Lucy offered.

"For a bit," Dinah said, shifting around.

"You know," Lucy said, picking up her book and giving Madam Pince a clear view of it, letting the other woman know she was taking the book with her, "you don't _have_ to come to my rooms. I'll be perfectly fine on my own." She didn't want her friends to feel like they were being forced to socialize with her. She assumed they were still…experimenting with their new adult bodies.

"All right, if you're sure," Dinah looking inordinately happy as the three of them walked of the library. As the students filtered away, Dinah asked, "So how did that feel for you? Was it kind of how you wanted it to go?"

Lucy couldn't resist asking, "Was it as good for you as it was for me?" she shrugged, "It went about as well as it could have, I suppose. I don't particularly like punishing students but it has to be done occasionally. There has to be consequences for poor decisions."

Dinah flushed, "Yes, there does. I think that group deserved punishment."

"You did not say much," Severus murmured, speaking to them in a much more pleasant tone than what he'd been using earlier, placing a light hand on Dinah's shoulder.

Dinah's face was beginning to look like Lucy's had when they'd walked in on her and Sirius. Lucy was a bit surprised at the gesture herself, but then they were near her rooms and students weren't often in this part of the building. "Well, this was Lucy's project and your area of expertise. I didn't think there was that much for me to say, really."

"I think we all did splendidly, especially you Severus. That was Professor Snape in one of his foulest of moods. Dinah," she said, reaching for her door handle. Lucy had been thinking about this for a couple days. It was kind of a weird question she thought, but if she didn't ask it was probably not going to just come to her. "When is your birthday? I just, well, it's only that you got me something for mine I don't want to be a horrible friend and _not_ do anything for yours, unless it's already passed, and…well…" she shrugged.

Dinah opened her mouth to respond but Severus interrupted her.

"It is May first and I would appreciate it if you'd stay away from me between now and then," he grumbled. She guessed his smirk was to show that he was teasing, probably in reference to the Valentine's Day incident.

Lucy laughed, "Hey now, I didn't go searching you out I just happened to stumble upon you and you exploded all over me. May first," she said, thinking and leaning against her door, "That's on a weekend isn't it? You'll probably want to spend most of the day alone with Severus. Completely understandable. Perhaps we could have a little get together on another day close to it though. You know, just the four of us…and anyone else you'd want there of course. Not that you'd have to invite Sirius if you didn't want to. I'm just assuming things."

"Not at all, I'd love to spend the day with the both of you." She smiled. "Friday evening, maybe? Or Sunday afterwards, whichever is most convenient for you. Is that all right, Severus?"

He shrugged; "I have no problem with it, if it's what you want."

"Alright!" Lucy said, excited that Dinah wanted to hang out with both her and Sirius. She sometimes worried that their relationship was still uneasy after the slapping incident. "I'm guessing Sunday afternoon or evening would be better, just because I'm on my way in rather than out, but I can talk to Sirius this weekend and let you know. I'll bring a cake!"

Dinah laughed, "Great, I'll look forward to it. Thank you. I'm glad you liked the gift I got you for your birthday...I wish we had been talking to each other and I could have done more, but...well, I promise I'll make it up to you next year."

Lucy waved her off, "Oh, don't worry about it. The gift was lovely. I mean, yes it would have been nice if we'd been talking at the time but the gift was wonderful. Though I won't object if you want to do more," she shrugged and grinned, "Who knows, by then I might be an old married lady and have to go to bed at an obscenely early hour."

Dinah laughed again, "Maybe. Well, good night then. This went well."

Lucy nodded, "I think so too. Goodnight," she said, waving at the professors who were once again her elders and going into her room, shutting the door behind her.


	61. Chapter 61

Chapter 61

"So, we've got something to talk about," Lucy said, dropping on the couch Saturday morning.

"What? Worried about the storm? It's just a regular spring shower."

"No, that's fine," she said, waving her hand at the window were the rain was lightly plinking against the glass.

"Dinah's birthday is next weekend. She wants us to come spend some time with her. She suggested a couple times but I said Sunday afternoon would work best for us. I told her I'd bring a cake; I don't know what kind yet but it'll be good. Anyway we need to figure out what to get her. What do you think she would like?"

"How should I know? You know her better than I do. Besides, I'm a guy I can't pick out good presents."

Laughing, she hugged him, "You've picked out perfectly wonderful presents for me. So why not Dinah?"

"I don't think she'd appreciate _those_ types of gifts."

"Oh, I think she'd have no problem accepting a wand case from you," she teased.

"I am never going to live that horrid thing down, am I?"

"Probably not. But it did serve a purpose I suppose," she said, admiring her engagement ring.

"Yeah," he kissed the top of her head, "to keep you from snooping."

Lucy settled into his side and sighed, closing her eyes. It was nice, just being close to him without anything else on her mind for once. It was relaxing.

"Speaking of things we need to talk about," Sirius said, shifting around, "I should really go back to the Lestrange mansion sometime this week and finish going through it. With Andromeda and Narcissa." he quickly added.

She waited for the tension, the fear to come but it didn't. Lucy sat up, blinking and staring into Sirius's worried face.

"I can wait. Or you could come with me. Maybe Narcissa and Andromeda can handle the rest on their own, bring it back to one of their houses or something. Or maybe you could spend the night with Dinah. Whatever you need. You just can't do that blank look thing again."

Lucy paused, putting a hand on his cheek, "I'm okay," she said, softly, "I'm surprisingly okay. I haven't thought about Bella in days. The storms are mostly regular storms anymore and she's just not that scary. You go. I'll be fine. I'm sure of it. I can always see if Dinah can stay with me if that'll make you feel better, but I'm really okay. I think…I think I've forgiven her."

Sirius kissed her then. Lucy was sure he put a whole lot of different emotions into that kiss, but mostly he was happy. Happy for her and that she was regaining parts of the Lucy she'd been before he'd died. She'd never go fully back to that girl, she'd grown in a number of ways, but she was realizing she didn't feel as afraid of the world as she had since the day Charlie told her about the Department of Mysteries.

Slowly, he leaned them back on the couch so that he was lying on top of her, his hips nestled between her legs. Things progressed in a much slower manner than normal as Sirius edged her robes up her body and out of his way, caressing her hip when he bunched her robes around her waist, while she managed to undo a button or two of his.

* * *

"You look happier, lighter," Sirius said, holding Lucy's hand as they walked down the hall to her rooms Sunday.

"I am," she smiled, "Not that I wasn't happy before but, well not to be too cliché but it's like a weight's been lifted off me and I can finally breathe again without fear of being crushed."

"I really shouldn't be here…as me," he glanced up and down the hall.

Lucy rolled her eyes, "I know you promised Dumbledore but we're getting married, you're not in my rooms and you don't have me plastered up against the wall. I hardly think we could cause much gossip just walking here holding hands. It's fine," she insisted.

The couple stopped short, almost knocking Dinah and Severus over, as the other couple rounded the corner. "Oh!" Lucy said, putting her free hand against the wall to keep from falling at the sudden stop, "Hi! Where are you two off to?"

"Dinner," Severus said slowly, his gaze drifting to Sirius.

Lucy's eyes drifted between the two men, sizing each other up. This was the first time they'd seen each other since the youthening had been reversed. She felt herself tense as if waiting for something to happen, like it had at Halloween.

She let out the breath she'd been holding when Sirius only nodded and said, "Snape. Dinner sounds good. We haven't had dinner yet."

"In my rooms," Lucy smiled, tugging at his hand.

"Have fun then," Dinah teased, making Lucy blush; "You know, you ought to take over one or two of these detentions and give your starving friend here a little break," she pointed to herself as Severus gave her a sideways, annoyed look.

"How about tomorrow," Lucy grinned, backing up into Sirius as he wrapped his arms around her, "You two can feel free to join us if you want," she offered, feeling completely happy for the first time in a long while.

"Oh! Can we?" Dinah tugged on Severus's sleeve and Lucy had to stop herself from giggling at Dinah's childlike behavior.

He gave her a slight smile; "I don't see why not."

"Come on then!" Lucy said, tugging Sirius to her door and pulling him inside. Dora trotted out of the bedroom to greet the couple but stopped when Severus walked into the room, being pulled by Dinah.

Lucy giggled as her normally, quietly affectionate, not very playful cat, lifted her front paws in the air, meowing.

"Aww, how cute," Dinah giggled, "Oh, come on," she reached down and lifted Dora up as the cat pawed at the air in Severus's direction. "You could hold her, you know."

He gave the cat's head a single, awkward pat, and then turned to look at the table; "We should summon dinner."

Lucy rolled her eyes at Severus, "So awkward around the cat but you had no problem with a fox sleeping in your bed." She sat in the chair Sirius pulled out for her at the dinner table, summoning up some Cornish pasties.

Grumbling, Severus pulled back a chair near the other end of the table and sat down as Dinah settled in next to him; "I did not ask for the fox to sleep in my bed nor did I ask for it to paw at me at ridiculous hours in the morning."

She stuck her tongue out at him, 'messing' with him again, and "It was six in the morning, hardly a ridiculous hour."

"You are in a feisty mood tonight, aren't you?" Sirius asked, grinning.

Lucy blushed, thinking about how feisty they'd been the day before. Maybe later they could be feisty together, but definitely not now with Dinah giving her that knowing look.

"Well, whatever you two have been doing the past few days, you missed out on a lot of interesting things that you might have witnessed had you stayed at the school."

"Hmmm?" Lucy said, stuffing a bite of pasty in her mouth.

"What sort of interesting things? Because we had an interesting conversation and I know I was interested in the things we were doing too," Sirius asked, grinning.

"Yes, well," Dinah frowned, "We did interesting things of that sort, too, but-" she chuckled as Severus groaned a little and then continued; "But I was speaking more about all the strange things that have been going on at school this year. You know our best friend Eugene? Well, he took off."

Lucy smiled, watching the unusual site of Severus blushing the barest amount before turning to Dinah and frowning, "Took off? As in left? For good? Where'd he go? Why'd he leave?"

"I caught him talking to the test subject – well, arguing really – and as soon as they saw me they flew off into the night on their brooms and Severus couldn't catch them in time. We don't think they're going to come back until they're ready with the 'final part of their plan'. That's what they said when I heard them."

"Not only that," Severus growled down at his pasty; "The test subject apparently had the capacity to return us to our adult forms two months ago but chose not to do so until he could guarantee that we were properly able to relive and fix our pasts."

"That's…" Lucy couldn't comprehend that all this had happened over the weekend and there'd been no outward sign in Hogsmeade, "That's awful. And you couldn't catch them? I wasn't looking for them but I didn't see Eugene in Hogsmeade. I'm sure I would have noticed him…"

"Oh, I think they've been very quiet about the whole thing," Dinah assured her. "You might not have noticed anything even if you had been at Hogwarts. I guess we just really wanted you to know that things are getting a little...intense around here. I mean, it feels peaceful now but I think it's only the eye of the storm. I don't know what their final plan is, but we think it has something to do with using the youthening potion to revive Voldemort in some fashion."

"I hope not," Lucy said, grabbing Sirius's hand, worried that that was probably exactly the case, "Not after the last couple years. No more."

"Hey," Sirius said, nudging her with his elbow, "We're happy remember?"

"No, no," Lucy said, "That's still fine. It's just…why can't that man seem to just stay dead?"

"The Dark Lord fears death above all else," Severus spoke up; "Therefore, if there is any feasible way for him to return he will continue to try to do so until all remaining options are exhausted to him. However..." here he frowned, "if Eugene and the test subject's ultimate desire is reviving the Dark Lord, I don't see why Eugene should care so much about meddling in others' lives."

"Yes, that's true," Dinah agreed. "And the despair of the test subject doesn't really fit either. Also, when I talked to Tommy with Sarepta yesterday evening he gave me no indication that he thought anything bad was coming. In fact, the most he's said on the subject in weeks was when he told me that the other voice – Bellatrix's – seemed _happier_ and was apparently able to get in much closer to him."

Sirius smiled. The way he looked at her made her happy. She couldn't not smile back. "I love you," she whispered, still grinning. He kissed her and she opened her mouth allowing his tongue entrance to wrestle with hers, completely forgetting about the other couple on the other side of the table.

Lucy thought she might have heard some giggling and someone clearing their throat but she wasn't sure until Severus said, "I realize that we are only guests in your rooms, but you might want to leave each other's clothes _on_ at least until Dinah and I have been given enough time to clear out."

They pulled apart, Sirius grinning like an idiot and Lucy licking her lips, "Our clothes are still on Severus and that wasn't….well it wasn't leading anywhere. Not really."

"Really, it wasn't," Sirius confirmed, "It's just what Dinah said. About Bella sounding happier. I think I know why," he smiled at Lucy again.

"Stop it," she blushed, "You're going to get me in trouble."

Dinah smiled at them, "So what's that about? You think you were able to forgive her then and that's why?"

Lucy ducked her head, her hair falling forward to hide her face, "Yes. I think so. I realized I haven't thought about her in days. Sirius is going to finish cleaning out the Lestrange mansion tomorrow and when he told me I wasn't worried about it. I wasn't scared."

"Well, that's wonderful, Lucy," Dinah spoke, "I'm so happy for you. I know this has been a stressful year but it's good to know that your worries are past. And obviously it's made a direct difference in the dynamics of the odd energies floating around the area."

"Isn't it?" Lucy said, looking up, "I feel useful again. It's been…three years since I've felt useful. Maybe it'll help your prophecy along. I mean, it's got to be good that she's searching for him, getting closer now that she's happy or at peace or whatever. Doesn't it?"

"Clearly Bellatrix has been held back by your negative thoughts about her but is now released from that," Severus said, staring hard at her, "I don't know if that has any direct bearing on the situation at hand, but it might. At the very least, it probably helps Dinah's side if Tommy has a 'friend' or something of the sort that cares for him. And," he added, staring down at his pasty; "Your insights _have_ been useful."

"It's true, you're very useful," Dinah said with a smile at Severus and then at Lucy. "I know what it feels like to finally accept that about yourself, though. I've only just started believing people when they tell me that I can handle this prophecy, and it's nice to feel a little self-confident again."

Lucy nodded, embarrassed by all the praise she was getting, and the excessive amount that had come from Severus only made her more embarrassed. "Thanks. That's so true," she said, taking the last bite of her pasty and shoving the plate away. "The self-confidence boost makes certain things more…fun doesn't it?" she grinned.

Dinah laughed, blushing a little. She usually did find Lucy's remarks to contain a bit more information than she was apparently comfortable discussing, "It can do that, yes. It also helps to have a talented partner-" she burst into giggles as Severus shot her a glare. "Well, you _are_, why hide from the truth?" she grinned innocently.

Lucy giggled nervously, blushing herself. "Oh no, what did I start?" she asked, glancing at Sirius, wondering what he was going to say to Dinah's remark.

"I'm not saying a word. I'm letting your languidness and penchant for sleeping in on Mondays and Thursdays speak for itself," he said, stretching and putting his arm around her shoulders.

"We should leave," Severus almost growled out, looking quite agitated with the direction that the conversation had taken. He certainly was one who was uncomfortable talking or even alluding to sex in front of other people.

"Now, now," Dinah placed a hand on his shoulder with a laugh; "Don't be rude and finish your pasty. Oh, Lucy, I think I forgot to tell you, on the subject of Bellatrix's voice. Severus and I actually heard it, too. On the day our youthening was reversed."

"Really?" Lucy asked, feeling incredibly hopeful, "That's good too right? It means I don't have voices in my head."

"I think we had already established that, but yes," Dinah smiled slightly; "She didn't say much, but she was hanging around the flayed baby when it attacked. Incidentally, that was also the day that the flayed baby decided to start speaking in Voldemort's voice," she frowned.

"She never said much to me," Lucy confirmed. "Did you…did you _see_ anything?" The girl in the fairytale had seen her stepmother's ghost, something Lucy had never done in regards to Bella, but maybe Dinah had.

"Nothing aside from the flayed baby," Severus murmured his reply. "You have not seen Bella, have you?"

"No," Lucy shook her head vehemently, "I've only seen her on the Black family tree at Grimmauld Place, a couple random pictures, and in her file in the Auror's office. I wondered if maybe the two of you did is all."

"No," Dinah shook her head; "If you haven't seen her then we certainly haven't. I assume you're thinking back to that fairy tale? Where the girl both heard and saw her stepmother?"

"Yes. Not that I wanted to see her. I just…wondered."

"I think...well, I think that even if those fairy tales are based on truth that each situation isn't always going to play out the exact same way each time. Maybe sometimes when people hold a grudge they see the person and maybe sometimes they don't. I'd hate to think that the fairy tales are specific blueprints for how things should turn out. I don't want to be like the sister in _'Where Does the Good Go'_...I don't want to be incapable of helping Tommy."

"You will not be incapable," Severus insisted, his hand disappearing beneath the table.

"Thanks," she smiled at him.

Sirius, not to be outdone by his apparent romantic rival, stuck his hand beneath the table as well. However, Lucy was sure Severus's hand was _not_ pulling Dinah's robes up above her knees and stroking the inside of her thigh. Face flaming, she smacked his shoulder, "Would you quit that? We have company."

Lucy noticed Dinah grinning, before her friend said, "Shall we give them something more to talk about, my love?"

"No," Severus growled, his face flushed.

"Oh, all right," she laughed and both of their hands returned to the top of the table, meeting the gazes of Lucy and Sirius. "Sorry about that."

"It's all right," Lucy said, needing to change the subject, and setting Sirius's hand firmly on the table, "So, Severus, what sort of detentions have you had those boys serving? I mean if I'm going to have them for detention for tomorrow I can have them do whatever. I wasn't sure if you had a specific regimen in mind or what. I suppose I could always have them do lines or something. I'm afraid I'm not really good with the punishment thing."

"Oh," Severus frowned; "You really want to take over tomorrow?"

Lucy shrugged, "If you want me to. I _am_ a professor and have occasionally sat detention with students in the past. Though if you want to do it I won't protest. Heck I'm willing to sit it with you if you want that too."

"I'm sorry; I meant no offense by it. It's simply that these students are...difficult," Severus looked like he'd wanted to use a much stronger word to describe these particular Hogwarts students.

"I'm not offended. I understand that these boys are not the ideal students. Their comments in the library were enough to prove that but if you give me guidelines and pointers for dealing with them I'm sure everything will be fine. I-I don't want people to coddle me just because I've had some difficulties," she shook her head, not wanting to think about how it had been just like that after she'd come back from…the place with her father. "They did that before. I don't want it to happen again."

"Well," Severus's voice was firm, "I do agree that it might be useful for you to attempt dealing with these students. I have, of course, already told them that any further disrespect to their professors will result in serious consequences. The main thing I ask is that you do not allow them to work on their make-up papers during detention. It is important that they are forced to do that on their own time, what little there is left of it," his lips curled into a satisfied smirk and Dinah flushed.

Lucy nodded. That made sense if one wanted to be vindictive and knowing Severus he did. "Yes, of course. Plus I know where to find you if need be. Normally I'd probably send for Dumbledore just because he's the headmaster, but with the way he's been lately…"

"Yes," Severus sighed, pushing his empty plate away from him. "Although he seems better when he is engaged in something, we noticed when Eugene escaped. Either way, I am happy to assist if you have any trouble with those students."

Lucy nodded, "Thank you. Perhaps keeping him distracted will help, but that can only last for so long," Dinah didn't look quite done with her second pasty when an apple pie appeared in the middle of the table, "Oh, I guess it's time for dessert."

Dinah quietly served herself a slice of pie and slid the dessert plate next to her pasty, first taking a bit of pie and then going back to the pasty.

Severus watched her, looking very amused, "Well, this is something new."

"What?" Lucy asked, serving herself her own piece of pie, licking the bit of filling off her finger, before shoving it towards Sirius who served himself as well, "Dinah's still eating." The other woman liked food it was true but she wasn't not eating, something that Lucy would have considered exceptional, rather than eating both dinner and dessert at the same time.

Dinah shot her an annoyed look and Lucy worried that she'd offended her friend.

"Yes, but I have never before seen a person eat both dinner and dessert at the same time," Severus explained.

"It's okay, Lucy, he just really enjoys everything about my strange eating habits." Dinah turned a smile to Severus; "You're going to be noticing new things about me all the time from now on."

"I would have it no other way."

Lucy smiled. They were a cute couple but then another thought occurred to her. "New things? Has something happened?"

"No, nothing other than Eugene's escape which we just told you about," Dinah replied, shaking her head as Severus looked a little confused. "I was just referring to the fact that we're spending so much time together lately and all, aside from when he has to administer those stupid detentions. But I guess...well he has learned one or two new things about me recently..." she flushed.

"Ah," Lucy said, "Well, you do learn a few new things about each other when you're living together. For instance he recently learned I don't like shrimp and…well something else I won't share in the interest of making Severus happy," Lucy flushed and grinned at the other man.

Severus sighed and rolled his eyes; "Much appreciated."

"It's okay, those kinds of things are what I was referring to," Dinah grinned. "Well," she pushed back her empty plates, "I hate to call it quits, but I think those lovely students will be wandering down to the dungeons soon and Severus probably shouldn't miss them."

Lucy grimaced, thinking of what the boys would probably do if Severus wasn't in his office when they showed up. Probably something horrible…if they didn't just leave that was. "Yeah, I understand. Well, did you want to take some pie with you?" she glanced at the dessert, hoping they didn't want to take too much of it.

"Oh, yes! I'll take two slices if that's okay," Dinah dove across and cut up more of the pie. "I need _something_ to satisfy me while Severus is away. That still leaves half a pie for you two, if you want it."

Sirius chuckled, "You can take more if you want. If we don't eat it by tomorrow we can just send it back down to the kitchens."

"Two pieces is fine," she grabbed them and stood from the table. "Probably see you tomorrow at meals?" she asked Lucy.

"Yeah," Lucy said, "Hopefully at breakfast," glancing at Sirius, and blushing. She hoped he didn't have any plans for the pie other than eating it, but she might be persuaded to do the other things too.

They bid each other goodnight and Sirius let her work on some grading for a couple hours before he showed her exactly what sort of plans he'd been making earlier.


	62. Chapter 62

Chapter 62

"As I'm sure you've noticed Professor Snape will not be administering your detention tonight," Lucy said, doing her best Severus impression and stalking into the room, "I will be doing so in his place."

One of the boys, Lucy couldn't tell which one, snorted and muttered, "Yeah, like we didn't know that already having been sent to this classroom."

"Your cheek is not to be tolerated, Mr. Corner," Lucy said, reminding herself yet again that her inspiration for getting through this detention was Severus Snape. He certainly seemed able to keep the students under control. "We will not be talking in this detention. We will not be doing our homework in this detention. Nor will we be using magic. What we _will_ be doing is writing short stories."

The seventh year she now recognized as Osric whined, "But we aren't in your class so why should we be doing work for it?"

"I'm sorry I believe talking is one of those things we will not be doing in detention. However, just because you're not in my class doesn't mean I can't assign you writing now. This is, once again, detention. I want you all to write a morality tale and they all must have some element of truth from your lives. The truth in the tale is to be underlined and written about in a separate section so that I can verify it for myself later. Your conduct tonight and every night I administer your detention will be reported to Professor Snape so I'd keep that in mind if I were you."

The students grumbled but obediently took out parchment, quill, and ink before beginning to write. Lucy sighed and sat at her desk, reaching for a catalogue and searching through it to find something that Dinah might like for her birthday. Lucy grinned when she remembered a comment Dinah made the night she'd introduced her to Sarepta.

She pulled out a fancy bit of stationery, writing a note about what her gift to Dinah would be. She hoped Dinah would realize it was more the bonding time and not buying her lingerie that Lucy was giving her. Oh, she was willing to buy lingerie but Dinah might find her friend buying her underwear a bit weird so she changed 'lingerie' to 'outfit' in the note since the store she was planning on taking her to did have another 'companion' type store that sold actual clothes and things too.

As an afterthought she tacked on that she could also buy Dinah a book of her choice but reminded her what it could be like taking Lucy to a bookstore. She was surprised to find that when she looked up at the clock detention was nearly over. The boys had been so quiet she hadn't even thought about them other than to look up from time to time making sure they were still there. She didn't like the way they grinned at her as they handed in their papers but that was to be expected. Lucy wasn't exactly their favorite person right now.

Lucy glanced through the papers as she headed back to her rooms. At first they all seemed like reasonable stories, ones she'd expected to get from these students but when she took a second look she saw something that was certainly _not _acceptable. Mudblood. Multiple times in every student's dialogue. In one it was used in reference to a ginger-haired boss who happened to own a rather large, black dog (a picture had been included); in another it referenced two gawky teens who had been abandoned by their pureblood relatives.

She should tell Severus and Dinah about this right away. But as she turned to head towards the dungeons instead of her rooms she thought about what the couple was probably doing right now and blushed. No, as angry as Lucy was about this, the news could definitely wait.

* * *

Lucy had slept fitfully that night and hadn't woken up as early as she'd intended because of it. Annoyed, she yanked on her clothes, scrubbed at her teeth and face, grabbed a blueberry muffin, patted Dora before snatching the papers from last night and stalked out the door, banging it shut.

Marching right up to Severus's door, Lucy pounded on it, hardly waiting for a response before pounding again and tapping her foot, arms now crossed in front of her to prevent herself from pounding the door anymore.

When Severus opened the door, glaring at her as per usual, she just glared back at him, thrusting the papers in his face. "Look. At. These," she said in short, rapid bursts, retrieving her muffin from the pocket she'd thrust it into earlier.

His glare relaxed a margin and he instead raised an eyebrow and smirked at her as he took the papers; "Would you like to come inside then? Or must I look at them standing in this very spot?"

She sighed, losing a bit of her fire, "Inside's fine." She tore off a piece of the muffin, stuffing it in her mouth as she followed him into his rooms.

Dinah was sitting on the couch, Sarepta wrapped around her shoulders, and reading a book when they entered.

"Your friend has something to tell us," Severus smirked.

Dinah cracked a smile; "Oh?"

"I've got nothing to tell you. I told you. Look at those," she said, waving a hand holding a bit of muffin at Severus before plopping down on the couch. "Those boys were perfectly well-behaved last night. I did my best Severus Snape impression," she muttered.

"That must have been something to see." He sat down on her other side and looked at the papers with a frown; "Now, what am I looking at here?"

"Their punishment. I made them write morality tales last night. Each was supposed to contain some bit of truth in it. I forbade them from talking," she said, crossing her legs and bouncing her foot. She knew she'd have been in a better, more normal mood if she'd been able to work off some of her annoyance last night but she'd been alone and taking a jog around the castle that late at night just hadn't been advisable. See if she ever took detention again just so he could go do dirty things to Dinah.

"I see," he stared at her for a moment, looking baffled. Of course he couldn't read her thoughts so how would he know she was both annoyed and incredibly frustrated? Lucy saw Dinah lean back to watch Severus read the papers, though what she could see from that angle Lucy had no idea.

After what seemed like an eternity Severus stood, clutching the paper in one fist, glaring at it, "Infernal, presumptuous bastards!"

Lucy sat back, shocked out of her annoyance at his strong words. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Dinah looked nearly as shocked as she was. "What did they do?" she asked.

"Well, first of all they can't write a decent story to save their lives and the one boy can't draw well enough to warrant illustrating a piece when I didn't ask for it," Lucy said, munching on another piece of muffin.

"Here," Severus walked over and shoved the papers into Dinah's arms, pointing to the offensive portion, "See there? Mudblood!" He gasped and his head shot up, "I wasn't calling you that!"

"I know," Dinah smiled, placing her hand over his; "Hush. I can read, remember?" His gaze relaxed and she looked down at the paper; "He uses 'Mudblood' multiple times. And the picture," she gasped when she saw what was on the drawing.

"I can only be thankful we've been relatively discreet as far as the relationship goes and that none of the students seem to know _who_ the attack dog is," Lucy said, giving out a shaky sigh, "They're clearly not stupid kids. They err just on this side of doing anything wrong. Not that I'm condoning the use of the word but it's not against the school rules exactly. If I was in a better mood I might even find it amusing that they assume I'm Muggle-born." She went to take another bite of muffin but growled when she discovered it was gone. When she was upset she didn't eat much, rather like Severus apparently, but she was angry and frustrated right now and she wanted to eat.

"Um...would you like another?" Dinah asked, sounding a bit timid and summoning a muffin over from the table before handing it to Lucy as Severus snatched the papers back from her.

Lucy took it, making sure not to snatch it out of her friend's hand. "Thank you. Sorry. I don't mean to be so testy. I'm just annoyed and…frustrated." She pulled off a bit of the muffin and chewed on it slowly.

Severus sighed and set the papers down on the coffee table, slowly pacing back and forth behind it; "Points must be taken off, but I don't know how many. I'm tired of punishing my entire house on behalf of these boys and we clearly know that removing points is not making much of a difference in their behaviors."

Lucy sighed as well, "I know. I suppose it's partially my fault for not having kept a closer eye on what they were doing but they were just being quiet and seemed to be acting so well. I wanted to trust them." She felt a bit guilty over what had happened. She had wanted to trust that the boys were mature enough not to need constant supervision but as a professor it was her job to check on the students and give guidance where necessary.

"Yes, well, I suppose you shall rectify that next time," Severus said.

Lucy glanced at him and sighed. It would really be unfair of her to force Severus to do all the detentions because she had one bad experience. After all she'd had a successful detention with Septimus Peaks so it was possible to do so again. "Yes, of course," she murmured.

"Unless you don't think you can handle it?" he raised an eyebrow. "You functioned rather well yesterday, it seems, despite their misbehavior. Of course, I will speak to them before you try to take them on again. In fact, it might be best to bring this to the headmaster, as I seem to be running out of options for getting through to them."

"I can handle it just fine," she sighed, stuffing another piece of muffin in her mouth. "I didn't see this until after I let them go and I didn't sleep well. I was annoyed and frustrated. I couldn't relax and nothing _I_ was doing seemed to be able to work."

"Well, maybe we should just try and think up a better strategy for dealing with them. I think you might have been on the right track, Lucy, having them write a morality tale, but didn't give them enough guidance on it which led them to just make a mockery of it. I wonder if there's some way we can encourage them to try and understand others. Maybe next year I can try to set up some kind of weekly event where students are forced to interact with people from other houses, ages, and births."

"That is_ so_ idealistic," Severus turned his raised eyebrow on Dinah.

"Maybe," she smiled a little. "But I think it could be a good thing. I mean, look at the assumptions they make. That anyone who is nice and in favor of getting along with others has to be a 'Mudblood'. And same for the reverse. You've said, Severus, that you were mostly assumed to be pureblood up until after the war ended and all those articles came out."

"Yes," he murmured, smirking at her; "And even then _certain_ people still managed to assume I was pureblood."

"Yes, well, I was very out of the loop back then," she flushed.

"You weren't the only one Dinah," Lucy assured her friend. Given Dinah's earlier tone Lucy thought she might have upset her friend a little with her comments about relaxing herself. Though why she wasn't certain. "I was _there_ and I still somehow missed that information. Although I think you're right in that they needed more guidance or at least more supervision than I was giving them."

"Well, we all learn and change things as we go. Now I know what to expect when I take them. I told Severus I'd do it a few times, too."

"Only after we're certain they've stopped this behavior," Severus snarled, jabbing a finger at the offensive drawing on the coffee table.

"Yes," Lucy agreed, "I _can_ handle them well enough if need be, but you shouldn't have to. Well," she said, yawning, "now that I've unloaded on the two of you I think I'll head back to my rooms and nap through my break. Unless there's something else?" A good nap was all she'd need to get back on track she was sure.

"No. I'll show these items to the headmaster, unless you'd rather do so," Severus said.

Lucy shook her head, "That's alright. You see him more than I do. Sorry again if I've been testy. I didn't intend to come off mean or rude," she apologized, rising from the couch.

"Don't worry about it," Dinah smiled, finishing up the last of her muffin as Sarepta started to slither down her arm. "At least your testiness shows…" The last came out in a series of hisses.

"What?" Lucy and Severus asked at the same time while Sarepta hissed at Dinah.

Dinah flushed, hissing at the snake again. The pair hissed back and forth for a moment before Dinah pointedly looked at Lucy and said, "Sorry. I was saying that it looks like you're starting to feel better this year."

Lucy grinned for the first time that day, "I suppose it does. I'll see you at lunch then? Unless you two decide to sneak off for a private meal again that is," she teased.

"We will see you at lunch," Severus growled and Dinah laughed.

"Alright," Lucy giggled, "See you later. Bye Sarepta," she waved at the snake, heading for the door.


	63. Chapter 63

Chapter 63

It was such a nice day out Lucy could understand why most of the students had wandered out onto the grounds and not stuck around in the Great Hall for lunch. It wasn't surprising that Dinah and Severus had skipped out on lunch too. She sighed, thinking she should take after the students' example and head outdoors. It was nice out and, as Tonks had reminded her on numerous occasions, it wasn't good to stay inside, holed up with her books all the time.

Lucy pulled out a book about the great and illustrious Black family that Slughorn had lent her and went out the front doors of Hogwarts to find her favorite reading spot beneath the trees. She noted a large group of students off to the side but didn't think much of it until she heard someone yell her name.

"Lucy! Come over here, _please_!" Dinah yelled when Lucy looked over at her.

She heard the desperation in her friend's voice; slightly confused because Severus was standing right there, his hand gripping her shoulder and glaring at the students gathered around them. Not wanting to upset her friend more than she already appeared to be, Lucy hurried over to where she stood. "Dinah? What is it? What's wrong?"

"Could you go and get Dumbledore?" Dinah asked, wringing her hands. "This is it. Everybody knows."

"What? You knew about this, Professor Ketteridge, and you didn't _tell_ us?" Angela Poliakoff, a sixth year Ravenclaw from her class, demanded. "Does the headmaster know, too?"

Dinah sighed, "Yes, the headmaster knows."

"And he lets you teach here? Is the man daft?" the fourth year Gryffindor Pierre Parkes demanded.

"Professor Dumbledore is a highly qualified, intelligent man and he hired me because he knows that parseltongue abilities are not necessarily indicative of evil or of an association with the dark arts, Mr. Parkes," Dinah held her head high for another moment to address the crowd and then turned back to Lucy; "Go get him, please."

"Um, I…" she hesitated. The last time she'd tried to see Dumbledore she'd nearly broken her hand on his gargoyle. That was under different circumstances though, she reminded herself and seeing the slightly panicky look on Dinah's face she knew she had to at least _try_ to see him. "Yes, of course. I…I'll be right back."

She hurried off, realizing if she'd thought about it Dumbledore was probably in the Great Hall eating lunch. Not wanting to attract the attention of more students, Lucy walked as fast as she dared across the Great Hall and up to the table where the Headmaster was sitting. "Professor! You must come with me. Quick."

"What has happened?" he asked, standing and following her back through the hall.

"Dinah. She…the…the students know," she said, hearing a couple students whispering something about her friend and her newfound abilities.

"Then we'd best hurry," the older man said, moving quickly through the crowds.

When they exited the main doors, Lucy pointed to where her friend stood, still surrounded by students, "There," she said and followed Dumbledore as he moved to where Dinah and Severus stood together among the crowd of students.

When they made to stand next to Dinah, her friend looked relieved. "Thank you, Lucy!" she shouted, throwing her arms around Lucy and repeating, "Thank you!"

Lucy, predictably, was almost moved to tears. She wrapped her arms around one of the most important people to her so far that year and said, "Anything. Anytime."

Dinah smiled and drew away from her to face the headmaster, the one person who always seemed able to fix things. She looked so relieved Lucy was glad she'd acted quickly. "Thank you for coming."

"We will take care of this," Dumbledore murmured, placing a hand on Dinah's shoulder before turning to the group, lifting his wand to his throat to amplify his voice so that it could be heard all over the grounds as he spoke; "Everyone please calm down and listen!"

The massive amount of students went silent.

"Yes," Dumbledore continued; "Our new Muggle Studies professor this year, Dinah Samson, is a parselmouth." The grounds started to hum again, but he cleared his throat and was rewarded with more silence. "Please rest assured that she is a natural parselmouth and has been since her magic was discovered. There is no connection to Lord Voldemort here."

"But what about that prophecy?" Filch demanded from the back.

Dinah growled and took a step towards him. Lucy wasn't sure why she did that, but the students closest to her cringed and backed up. She gave them what she hoped was a disappointed look.

Severus, fortunately, held Dinah back, murmuring something in her ear that seemed to make her relax.

"Yes," the headmaster murmured. "There has been a prophecy associated with Professor Samson, but it did nothing more than suggest she use her kindness and empathy to help this world recover from the wrath of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, which she has been doing quite well in her position as Muggle Studies professor."

"You can't make us take her classes anymore!" a boy shouted.

"For the time being, until this blows over, we shall allow Professor Grubbly-Plank to administer Muggle Studies," he said.

Lucy chewed on her lip. She wasn't sure that was the right move to make but she would have to trust Dumbledore. He hadn't steered them wrong yet.

"Can we write to our Mums and Dads?" a younger boy near the back of the crowd demanded, shooting his hand into the air.

Dumbledore looked to Dinah for an answer. She, like Lucy, bit her lip before nodding. Lucy hoped Dinah had some sort of plan or at least an idea of how to handle this because it was going to get messy rather quick. The parents were not going to be happy about this. She wasn't sure if this was going to be worse than having a werewolf teach their children but she _knew_ it would be worse than Lucy making love with her fiancé.

"You may write your families," Dumbledore said. "But I have no intention of removing Professor Samson from her position. Rest assured that you will all learn to accept her abilities. The stigma of parseltongue is one that is unwarranted and undeserved. There have been many good people with the ability, but they were forced to lay low because of its association with the dark arts. That must stop, and you will be the first generation to put a stop to it. Now, please return to your common rooms. Classes are cancelled for the remainder of the day.

"I expect no dawdling about on the grounds and no further remarks toward Professor Samson. Anyone outside of their common rooms will receive detention with their head of house. Dismissed." His authoritative tone could not be ignored, and the students dispersed.

Dinah exhaled, hugging Severus's waist now that the students were gone. She looked at Dumbledore and Lucy as the others began slowly ambling towards them; "Thank you. Both of you. At least it's over."

Lucy smiled, "You're welcome. You were there for me when I needed somebody. Many times. This was the least I could do. Not that I wouldn't have done it anyway but I think you know what I mean. You do right? I only…" she swatted at an offensive bug buzzing around her head, sending it flying in another direction, "Stupid bug," she muttered.

Dinah smiled; "Yeah, it was annoying me, too. Don't worry, I know what you mean. It's good to have friends."

"Dinah," Slughorn began walked up to them; "Are you sure that was the right choice? I know you wanted to tell the world, but...will you be all right? Letting them tell their parents? Surely, at least some mild _Obliviating_..." he trailed off.

Dinah shook her head; "There will be no more _Obliviating_ from this point forward, Professor Slughorn. But thank you for your concern."

"You are aware then, Dinah," Dumbledore murmured, "that the press will probably request interviews with you and begin hovering around Hogwarts? I am afraid with the students writing their families that it will only be a matter of days before that begins."

"I know. It's all right," she let out a shaky sigh again. She let her head rest on Severus's shoulder.

"It is unfortunate that this should happen at the same time as all of our other inconveniences, but this is your prophecy and if you feel it is what must be done then it is what must be done," Dumbledore said. "I will increase our Auror count to compensate and I will also write Harry. Ideally, he will be able to arrive soon and corroborate your statements on the innocence of most parselmouths."

"Yes," Lucy agreed, "I'm sure he will. He came to talk to me after…after you talked to him and more or less said that." She didn't mention that Harry had been a little upset about some of the other things Dinah had said, but she was absolutely certain Harry would affirm Dinah's words.

"I know," Dinah sighed. Filch probably wasn't happy about the turn of events, but then the man was rarely ever happy, Lucy thought. She couldn't see the rest of the faculty from her position but she thought that most of them would be on Dinah's side. Minerva was fair-minded and Sprout had that 'love everybody' ideal that Severus loved to tease Dinah about. She wasn't sure where Flitwick would stand but he was head of Ravenclaw for a reason. He'd likely rationalize all the arguments he could think of and come to the conclusion that Dinah wasn't a bad person and thus neither could all parselmouths be bad people.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Potter will be useful in this," Severus murmured. Lucy barely heard him but she saw the glare he was shooting the rest of the professors with. When his gaze came to her he seemed to soften his look, still concerned that she thought he hated her.

"Well!" Dumbledore said, "I believe that is enough for one day. We should all return to the castle and continue to go about our business. Let us give Dinah some time to relax before she is forced to contend with the press. If any of you would like to speak to me on this issue, my office will be open." The faculty began to disperse, Slughorn murmuring a 'good luck' as he left and Minerva giving Dinah a slight nod. Soon all that remained with her were Lucy, Severus, and Dumbledore. "Will you be all right?" the headmaster asked.

"Yes, I think so. Thank you," Dinah murmured, and he nodded before turning to head back towards the castle. She exhaled and loosened her grip on Severus, lifting her head from his shoulder to look at Lucy. "Thanks again for getting him."

"You're welcome," Lucy said, putting a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. "You're welcome to come to my rooms later if you want. Or I can meet you there for dinner so you don't have to face the Great Hall if that sounds good to you. I could meet you in the dungeons too. Whatever you want."

"Thanks. Um...tomorrow can we do all that? I think today I just need to...think. I don't know that I'd be good company."

"Sure," she said, "How about lunch? Tomorrow's Wednesday but you could come over in the evening too if you wanted."

"Okay, that sounds nice. I'll, um...try to meet you in your rooms. It would probably be good for me to get out in the halls a bit tomorrow but I think today I want to go straight to the dungeons. Oh, um," she dug into her robe and withdrew the key to her rooms, handing it to Lucy. "Do you think you could drop in and feed my animals? Maybe take Godric to your rooms to spend time with Dora? It would be a really big help."

"Of course. Dora will love that. I, ah, guess I'll go read up on my future in-laws," Lucy grinned, holding up the book Slughorn had lent her after sticking Dinah's key in her pocket. "If you need anything else just let me know."

"I will. Thank you." They headed into the castle together until they made it to Dinah's rooms. Lucy unlocked Dinah's door, feeding Helga and Salazar before grabbing Godric and taking him back to cuddle with Dora while she read.

* * *

Lucy had just stepped out of the shower when an insistent pounding had her tugging on her dressing robes before answering the door. "Ginny!" she said, when she saw her youngest cousin on the other side. Her panicked face had Lucy asking, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Have you seen this?" she asked, thrusting a copy of _The Daily Prophet_ into her hands and stalking into the room, patting Dora as she passed. "I borrowed Hermione's copy but I thought you'd want to be warned."

Lucy looked down at the paper she held in her hands, feeling Godric paw at her swishing robes. What she saw made her gasp: 'Parseltongue Shocker at Hogwarts.' The front page article went on to describe Dinah in the most disparaging terms, all under the guise of being dedicated to honest reporting, that the public needed to know these things. "Why? Why would she do this?"

Ginny shrugged, "She's not really concerned with the people she writes about. Just wants to get attention and be in the spotlight. Her articles barely have any truth to them. I don't know why people believe her, but they do. I just thought you should see it."

"Yes, yes, thank you. I'll see Dinah later today…"

Her cousin nodded, "I figured you'd see her at some point today. Professor Samson will be okay won't she?"

Lucy nodded, "I think so. Eventually. She's got Severus and me and Sirius. Dumbledore. Slughorn. Harry."

"And the Weasleys," Ginny assured her, "Probably Hermione and Luna too."

Lucy smiled, "Perhaps you should let her know that when you see her in class."

Ginny's face got that determined look she sometimes had when things weren't going the way she thought they should, "I will."

"Good. Now, why don't you head off to breakfast and let me finish getting dressed," she teased as she ushered her cousin out the door.

* * *

Adjusting the fork's position on the table, Lucy sighed. She was nervous Dinah wasn't going to show up. All her students could ask her about so far today was about the Muggle Studies professor and the article in _The Daily Prophet_. Moving one of the glasses slightly to the left, she knew if Dinah didn't show up soon she was going to spend the next hour rearranging her lunch.

Thankfully though, a knock soon sounded at her door. She smiled at Dora and Godric curled up in a chair together as she opened the door. "Hi! You came," she greeted, smiling at Dinah, who seemed to be hiding in her hood like she did when Sarepta was with her, and Severus, who was glaring at her again.

"Not through lack of a struggle," Severus growled, "I presume your students were as infernal as mine have been all day? Asking question after question about Dinah here?"

Lucy grimaced, "Yes, unfortunately. With the exception of a select few. Ginny was pretty annoyed when she came over this morning. Wanted to make sure I saw the article and was prepared to deal with it. You apparently have the entire Weasley clan behind you by the way," Lucy told Dinah as she stepped back to allow them in.

Dinah smiled as she walked in and shut the door behind her and Severus. Her smile grew when she spotted the cats curled up together in the chair. "That's nice to know, especially as I've only met Ginny, Ron, your uncle, and you."

Lucy giggled, "Well, that's about half of us. Agrona was doing some major campaigning for you in my sixth year class. Derwent and Eloise Midgen where helping her. I don't know if you even know Eloise. She's a Hufflepuff who seems to be good friends with Agrona so she's taking your side with nothing more than Agrona and Derwent's word as far as I know."

"That's so nice," Dinah sighed as Severus lowered her hood for her. "I'm glad at least a few people here and there are defending me. Severus should be pleased. The Slytherins are causing the least amount of trouble in this case, and probably losing the least amount of points, oddly enough."

"I'm too angry with the other houses to be pleased about Slytherin," Severus muttered, wandering over toward the table where three places were set and sliding into one of those places.

She shook her head at the professor. It was just like Severus to be so annoyed with three houses he failed to be impressed with the fourth. "How has your day been so far?" she asked Dinah, motioning for the other woman to sit in one of the two remaining places.

Dinah sat down next to Severus. "Oh, not bad. I owled my lesson plans to Grubbly-Plank, I read some books on defense for awhile, then I summoned some leftover breakfast potatoes from the kitchens for a morning snack, then I finally started reading _The Errant Wizard_ straight through, then I checked on Sarepta. She's getting ready to shed her skin, you know. Then I just sat and did nothing for awhile," she smiled.

"It must have been nice to be able to relax a little," Lucy said, trying to be encouraging, sitting in the last remaining spot. "If you want a change of pace you can hang out here. I've got a couple breaks this afternoon so I can always come see what's up. Although you'll probably want to leave before Sirius shows up," she mused, "Of course maybe you won't. You might want to tell him about this yourself, I don't know." She shifted in her seat, the frustrations of the last couple days having gotten her worked up to the point where she was sure Sirius was the only one who could relax her enough so that she could get rid of all her excess emotions and energy so she could finally get a decent nights sleep.

Dinah smiled, "Thanks, that's nice of you. Maybe I'll stay for a bit, if that's okay, spend time with the cats. But I'll leave before Sirius gets here. I don't mind if you tell him. He's probably already seen the _Daily Prophet_ anyway, or heard about it around Hogsmeade. I'm guessing there aren't many people who don't know at this point."

"Probably not," Lucy whispered, "Rita is a sensationalist. She loves anything thing that will get her attention. I can't imagine how you've felt today. I think if she suddenly decided I was interesting enough to write about I'd crawl into bed and not get out until someone dragged me out."

"I kind of felt that way yesterday," Dinah admitted with a sigh as she picked at the sandwich that had appeared in front of her; "After we got back to the dungeons I just slept pretty much straight through until this morning. It was kind of hiding, but I think it's okay to hide a little bit, as long as I don't hide from everything."

"It wasn't hiding," Severus muttered, reaching over to pick up her sandwich and force it into her hand. "You are not hiding from anything. Eat."

"I'm eating," she managed a small smile and took a full bite of the sandwich.

Lucy, following her habit of picking her food apart when she was upset, pulled the top of her sandwich off and began pulling pieces off the salami, eating it small bits at a time. "Yes, hiding a little is okay I think. I've done my fair share of that after all." She picked at her sandwich some more, feeling her anger rise before exploding, "This is just ridiculous! What would they do if I started running around here as a fox? Nobody seems too worried about the rumored attack dog that's been roaming the halls. No, they're worried about talking to snakes."

"It's okay," Dinah smiled. "Dogs and foxes don't have an association with the dark arts like parselmouths do. I knew this was going to happen; it's just a matter of dealing with it. But," she took another bite of her sandwich; "maybe it's not so bad. If I can get through it things will be better on the other side than they've ever been up until now, while I hid my abilities."

"Yes," Lucy nodded, "You're probably right. At least you won't have to hide any part of yourself anymore."

"Yes," Dinah mused. "Isn't it funny how all my choices up until now just naturally led me here? It's sort of Sarepta's fault that it had to come out yesterday. Crawling all over me with moulting hormones like she did that morning is what made that male seek me out on the grounds. I should have thought about that, but I didn't. Yet it was only the direct consequence of me choosing to bring a snake here to talk to Tommy, something I never would have even tried if it weren't for everything that I've faced this year with the prophecy and the youthening and everything."

"This has been quite the eventful year so far, hasn't it? I definitely expected a year without all these adventures when I accepted this position, but it's been good I think."

"Yeah," she laughed, "I came to Hogwarts because I thought all this was over. That I was 'safe'. But I should have known, like Dumbledore did, like my parents did, like pretty much everyone did, that I was just setting my prophecy into motion by coming here. I've faced everything I tried so hard and for so long to avoid, but you know what? I wouldn't change a bit of it. Despite all of that, coming here was the best choice I've ever made. Meeting you, Severus," she turned to smile at her boyfriend, and then turned back to Lucy; "And a friend like you, Lucy. I feel more accepted in the wizarding world now than I ever have before in my life, even with all of this mayhem surrounding me."

Lucy turned away as Severus leaned over to kiss Dinah. Unusually shy with the show of affection between the two. She began twisting her engagement ring around her finger, another unexpected adventure. "A lot of good things happened this year, it's true."

"Next year should only be more interesting, if we make it through this one," Severus muttered, turning back to his sandwich; "I spoke to the headmaster about Corner and Blekinsop's prank during my break this morning, and it seems that he has been campaigning to use Hogwarts as the site of the next Triwizard Tournament. It would be held at Beauxbatons this year, normally, but due to the fact that it ended...badly last time, he would like Hogwarts to have a chance to 'redeem itself', so to speak. So far it seems that the other schools are willing to accommodate."

"Oh!" Lucy said, looking up, "That should be exciting. They weren't having the tournament when I was still in school, as I'm sure you know Severus, and I wasn't around here when the tournament was going on last time."

"It can be interesting," he replied with a frown; "Although depending upon what happens with Eugene and the test subject I wonder if Durmstrang's participation may be altered in some way."

"Mmm," Lucy said. In all likelihood she'd be married by the Yule Ball. Smiling, she fantasized what it would be like to dance with her husband in front of all the students, not having to worry about what their parents might think about it. "That is a bit worrisome but I don't think it should have any bearing on the school's participation. After all the entire school can't be defined by one student. Just imagine if that were true of Hogwarts…" she frowned.

He snorted; "I can think of many cases in which that would be highly undesirable. But we need to be getting back to our classes now. You're certain you want to stay here, Dinah?"

"Yeah, I think so. The cats will be good company, if they ever wake up," she laughed and gestured to the two cats still sleeping on the chair.

Lucy laughed, "I expect they're tired from chasing each other around half the night. I have office hours next so if you need something I won't be far," Lucy said, standing.

"Thanks," Dinah stood, kissing Severus once more before they all bid each other goodbye.


	64. Chapter 64

A/N: Okay so this is a really short chapter compared to others but it just happens to be the way my scenes fell. Hope you still enjoy it and feel free to review! Thanks!

* * *

Chapter 64

After a rather enthusiastic greeting Sirius settled both him and Lucy on the couch, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Now, what had you so worked up?" he asked.

"Bad couple days," she said, snuggling her face into the crook of his neck. "I messed up with that detention I took over from Severus and I didn't notice it until after I left. Then I couldn't go talk to Severus about it since I'm pretty sure I know what was going on. Then I didn't sleep well and I'm sure you heard about what happened yesterday. Again didn't sleep well last night. I couldn't seem to relax myself enough to sleep. It seems," Lucy said, wriggling in Sirius's lap, "that I need you for that."

"I read about that," he murmured, stroking her hair, leaning down to bury his nose in it, "I talked to Rosmerta. She agreed to make sure people knew Dinah was a good person. Said she hadn't seen her much but she liked Dinah well enough. Rosmerta will get the word out. She's good at that."

"Mmmm, good," she said, kissing his neck, not moving her head from where it had been resting.

She felt the chuckle rumble through Sirius's chest before he spoke. "Not relaxed?"

"Not quite and I find we are both wearing far too many clothes," she felt Sirius stir against her bum before he stood lifting her in his arms again.

"How about we use the bed this time? It'll be more comfortable. You can even be on top."

Lucy grinned, lifting her head, "Did I tire you out that much, old man?"

"I'm the _only_ man," Sirius said, sounding a bit possessive.

"Mmm, yes you are," Lucy said, unbuttoning his robes as he walked into her bedroom and shut the door, leaving the cats out in the living room.

* * *

The next morning Sirius, kissed the tip of Lucy's nose, "Good morning," he grinned.

"Mmmm, a very good morning," Lucy giggled. A knock at her outer door had Lucy groaning at the interruption.

"Just ignore it," Sirius encouraged, his face still flushed from their excursions a minute ago.

Lucy smiled and scooted out from beneath him, "It might be Dinah. She mentioned coming over today. It's a different space than the dungeons and I can pop in more easily than Severus." She pulled out a deep blue dressing gown and wrapped it around her, tying the belt tight around her waist. "I'll go answer the door," she said, leaning down to kiss Sirius. She didn't miss how his eyes drifted down to see how far her dressing gown gaped. "You shower and get dressed."

Padding out to the front room, her bare feet hurried along the chilly floor. "Hi!" she said in a cheery mood, pulling open the door.

Dinah grinned, "Hi. You feeling okay? You look flushed."

"Oh, um, I'm fine," Lucy assured her friend, blushing when the shower was heard turning on.

"Ah," Dinah smiled at her blush, understanding; "Well, I hope I didn't interrupt anything." She lowered the hood she again had up and stepped inside when Lucy allowed her the access. "Severus wanted to walk with me but I assured him that I would be all right. I've got to keep taking steps, you know, and so now I've successfully walked through the halls alone, although I still had the hood up."

"Any step forward is a good step," Lucy smiled, "Believe me I know and no you didn't interrupt anything. We were, ah, finished, when you knocked," she said, carefully sitting on the couch. She really should have put _something_ more on before answering the door. "Sirius is definitely on your side by the way."

"That's good to know," Dinah sat next to Lucy, setting her laplap computer thing down on the floor beside the couch and leaning back; "I enjoyed something similar this morning and last night, so I know how it goes with the other thing."

"Mmmm," Lucy grinned, trying to think of a tactful way of saying her next thought, "I feel so much better now. Not that everything's fixed itself but I just feel better, you know? Anyway, did you bring that to work on your survey some more?" she motioned to Dinah's lap computer.

"I thought I might," her friend admitted, glancing down at the Muggle machine. I'm almost done with it, you know. Been working on it slowly ever since Severus and I started getting more used to our young forms. I'm going to show the whole thing to him when I'm done and surprise him."

It wasn't long at all before Sirius came out fully dressed, his hair still dripping, laying in that long, scraggly way curly hair had. He smiled at Dinah before walking over to Lucy, kissing the corner of her mouth. "Did you tell her about Rosmerta?" he asked.

"Not yet. I thought you'd like to."

"Okay," Sirius agreed, sitting in one the chairs. Godric and Dora had moved to crawl over Dinah. "I talked to Rosmerta and she's going to talk you up to people, have words with people who say you're evil and such. She likes you."

Dinah smiled, probably the warmest smile that she'd ever given Sirius; "Thank you. That's very kind of Rosmerta and I appreciate it so much. Thank you for putting out the good word about me."

"No problem," he said, a slight tinge of color to his cheeks, "You've been good to Luce…and to me. The least I can do is repay you somehow."

Dinah was about to reply when there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," Sirius offered. "Dumbledore," he greeted, after opening the door, and nodded at another person Lucy couldn't see.

"Ah, Sirius, still here?"

"Yes, I'll be leaving soon though. What can I do for you?"

"We need to see Dinah," Severus's voice said.

Dinah stood, looking surprised as she walked over to stand by the door. "Severus. But you have class!"

"Cancelled," his reply was simple and to the point.

"Cancelled?"

"All of your classes?" Lucy asked from the couch, "Has something _else_ happened?"

"Yes," Dumbledore sighed; "I told him he did not have to do so but he is exceedingly loyal it seems. Dinah, some local reporters are here and have asked to speak with you. Would you grant them that privilege?"

Dinah sighed a little shakily and her voice was strained but she nodded; "All right. I can do that. I guess this is it then?"

Lucy looked at her friend, worried that she wasn't ready for this. "It seems so. I can come with you if you want," she said, standing and walking over to put her hand on Dinah's shoulder, "I can even come as 'that infernal fox' if that would help."

"Thank you," Dinah shot her a grateful smile. "But I'll be all right. If you want to come you are most welcome but don't feel like you have to cancel your classes on my account."

"You're welcome. I can always cancel my three o'clock office hours and pop in if it's still going on, but if you need me before then send for me. I don't mind. Right now though, I should probably clean up…and dress," she said, peeking at Severus, dreading his expression.

He wasn't paying any attention to her; his entire gaze was focused on Dinah. "We should probably go. It will be better to start slow, with these local reporters."

"Yes," she fingered the front of his robes idly as he placed a hand on her arm, and then turned back to Lucy. "Thanks. I'll let you know if I need anything. I'm sure they'll try to ask you questions eventually once they find out we're friends, which they probably know already."

"Alright," Lucy said, chewing her lip. She wondered what sort of things they'd dig up about her once they discovered the connection. She hoped not much. "Good luck," she wished her friend as she closed the door behind the trio.


	65. Chapter 65

A/N: Apparently to make up for my last very short chapter I decided to write this incredibly long scene :-P I'm just joking really. This scene just happened to get rather long. There is a bit more to it then what there is here but it both made sense to make a break where I did and I was also trying to spare you from having to sit staring at the screen too long :-P

* * *

Chapter 65

"Lucy, I love you but I don't think anyone's going to want to eat that," Sirius said, trying to be kind.

"Oh, they will too," Lucy chirped, smoothing out the bright red frosting, green and yellow standing by for her to decorate with. The cake was lopsided and had crumbled away on one side but she'd patched that up with some frosting and a spell. "Dinah will because she likes food and you'd better. Boyfriends eat the things their girlfriends make and they like it. It's like a rule or something."

"Even if it looks like that?" he asked, pointing at the cake.

"Especially if it looks like this," she smacked his hand with the knife she was using to frost the cake. "I have put my heart and soul into this cake. It's going to be amazing!"

"I hope you didn't put your soul into it. Otherwise we'll definitely have to eat it all so it doesn't become a horcrux."

Lucy turned to glare at her fiancé, "Not funny."

"Oh, it is too. You're just self-conscious about your cake. I highly doubt you've murdered anyone recently."

Scrunching her face up, she stuck her tongue out at him, "I am proud of my cake. It's not perfect but it's got…spunk."

"It's got something alright. Spattergroit I think," he said, fingering some of the leftover frosting.

"Oh, shut up. We have go soon if we're going to make it on time." Lucy waved her wand at the cake and it boxed itself up while she grabbed Dinah's gift and some light outer robes for the walk.

When she walked back into the kitchen, she found Snuffles licking one of the frosting bowls. "I don't think so mister. I've already told you we've been warned off hanging about Hogwarts on four legs. We are going to the school today to celebrate a friend's birthday. It's all on the up and up. We'll be fine. Now, come on and change back. Here's your coat," she said, holding out Sirius's outer robes for him to take when he was once again on two legs. "You've got a bit of frosting on your nose. Just there," Lucy told him wiping it off with her finger.

The pair of them received a few stares from students as they walked across Hogwarts grounds. It made Lucy uncomfortable and she thought, judging from the tension in their clasped hands, Sirius wasn't at ease either.

Reaching Dinah's door, Lucy knocked, hoping they weren't too early.

"Hi," Dinah greeted.

Severus nodded, "Hello," at the both of them. Godric seemed to be attached to Severus's arm and didn't seem inclined to let go.

"Hi," Lucy grinned, trying not to laugh at the sight of Severus and Dinah's cat. She held up the covered cake to the birthday girl. "I brought cake!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Don't get too excited. I still say no one's going to want to eat it."

Lucy smacked him, watching Dinah's confused expression as she said, "Bring it in and put it on the table. We'll have it soon," she smiled. "I'm always up for cake."

"And any other food," Severus commented as he stood, forcing Godric to let go of his sleeve. The cat still followed Severus across the room though, watching his robes as they moved.

Lucy and Sirius stepped inside. "Ignore him," she told the other couple, "He thinks my cake's ugly. Told me it looked like it has spattergroit. Anyway, happy birthday!" Lucy held out the parchment she'd written Dinah's gift on.

"Thanks," Dinah smiled as she took the parchment. After reading it she laughed, possibly remembering the day she'd mentioned going to a store and picking out lingerie together. "Thank you, Lucy. We'll have to pick a good date to go down there."

After she handed the gift to Severus, the other man read it and frowned. Lucy hoped he didn't have a problem with the gift but all he said was, "Just don't let them gift-wrap your purchase. You'll never get out of it if you do."

Lucy frowned, not sure what he was talking about, "I wouldn't let them wrap something I'm buying for myself and Dinah will be standing right there so it'd be silly to have them wrap something for her."

Sirius took the cake from Lucy and sat it on the table. "How did yesterday go? No more parselmouth issues?"

"No reporters and I didn't leave the dungeons all day, so no issues yesterday," Dinah smiled. "I suppose you've both seen Alder's latest article?"

"Yes," Lucy said, hovering in the middle of the room, "It was really positive. I'm glad he seems to be on our side. At the very least he's not biased against you anyway. Oh," she bent slightly, "is that a new necklace? It's pretty."

"Thanks," Dinah smiled, playing with the emerald and topaz pendant, "It's from Severus." Lucy smiled as she watched Dinah lay her head on Severus's shoulder and he smiled, kissing her forehead. "See? It's an 'opposites attract necklace'. I guess one of the stores in Diagon Alley was doing a promotional thing with house colors." She demonstrated by pulling the two jewels apart and letting them snap back together.

"That's so neat! I'm kind of jealous."

Sirius just looked at her for a moment. "Well, don't look at me. I'm not going into that store just so you can get a necklace like Dinah's. I like the lingerie on you but I'm not going in that store with all those women to pick out your underwear."

"But Severus did it," she pointed out.

"I used a face recognition charm," Severus growled, looking incredibly irritated with them.

"See," Lucy grinned, "you could do that too." A vase of brightly colored flowers caught Lucy's eye. They were so cheerful. "Flowers too! Severus you did well. All I got for my birthday was….wait a minute," she said, turning to Sirius as something dawned on her. "If you refuse to go into a lingerie store _how_ exactly did you acquire my birthday present?"

"Tonks," Sirius mumbled, his face reddening.

Dinah smiled; "Perhaps a face recognition charm would be easier? And no, Severus didn't get me those. Those are from my Mum and Dad. They sent me that along with a DVD player! It's the latest thing in Muggle technology; you'll just have to see it!"

"I saw it," Severus grumbled. "It looks nicest in its unopened box."

"Killjoy," Dinah chuckled.

Lucy practically jumped up and down with excitement, "Can we see it? What does it do? Is it like one of those game things?"

Sirius sighed, but was smiling at her antics, "Dinah, don't you know better than to tell her things like that?"

"Sorry," she flushed, laughing; "I should have known after we spent so many hours playing with the Nintendo 64 that one time. Maybe we can look at it later. It's similar to a VCR but with more advanced technology...I have two films for it right now," she grinned.

"I like films," Lucy said before frowning, "I wasn't very good at that Nine Ten Do thing though. I kept dying and Dinah beat me mercilessly."

"I've had years of practice," Dinah smirked, "Don't worry, I even beat my cousin Larry mercilessly. A fact he has always hated by the way, since as a male he's supposed to be better at it."

Lucy giggled as Severus rolled his eyes at Dinah, "It's bad enough that you indulge in Muggle things but must you also indulge in childish Muggle things like video games and those bizarre animated shows and books? And if you dare suggest that we watch a film tonight-"

"Great idea!" Dinah exclaimed, clapping Severus on the back. The man just glared at her, still not comfortable with anything Muggle related it seemed. "And this time you're going to stay. Don't worry, you can read or something while we watch, but you aren't leaving the room."

"It is too distracting to read with that infernal useless racket in the background," he snarled.

Lucy bounced over and grabbed Sirius's hand, "You don't mind watching a film do you? We can cuddle. That is," she turned back to the other couple, "unless that's going to bother you. It's sort of a security blanket type thing for me. The touching…"

"I dealt with it in Grimmauld Place during the Order days and I can deal with it now," Severus muttered, sighing and rubbing his forehead. "As long as you remain clothed."

Dinah grinned, "Yeah, no repeats of the 'just come right in' incident. Which I am _never _going to do again by the way, even if you tell me to."

Lucy blushed, forcing Sirius to lean down and kiss her cheek. When he straightened up he looked and Severus and said, "I promise our robes will remain on. However I don't recall there being any incidents where you walked in on us not clothed in the Order days. Hands might have been inside robes, but the robes were definitely on." He then turned to Dinah's smiling face, "I don't blame you. It was a rather deflating moment for me as well. If it makes you feel more at ease I make sure the door is locked now, so even if you were to 'just come in' you'd have to knock."

"Always good to know," she smiled while Severus grumbled; "Shall we have cake then?"

"You can," Sirius said, "I don't think I can stomach it."

Lucy turned to him, a bit disgruntled, "I already told you, you have to eat it it's the rule!"

"Oh, no. You said it was a rule for boyfriends. I'm not your boyfriend," he insisted, lifting up her left hand and pointing out her engagement ring.

Lucy huffed at his logic. She should have thought of that already, "Yeah, well it goes double for fiancés," she flipped around back to Dinah, "It's really fine. I promise."

"May I?" Dinah asked, her hand hovering over the cover on the dish.

"Yes, of course," Lucy assured her, "I made it for you after all. I did try writing 'Happy Birthday Dinah' on it but I'm afraid that didn't come out well at all. Then again I probably shouldn't have tried to do that part without magic, but I thought you'd really like it if I did and…well…the writing doesn't look very good."

"Oh, don't worry about the writing. It can be hard to write with frosting. That's no big deal," she smiled and withdrew the cover. She stared at the cake, her lips twitching. Lucy wasn't sure if it was from laughter or horror.

"_That_ is a cake?" Severus pointed, raising an eyebrow at Lucy's prized creation.

"Yes, it is," she said, a bit offended and sticking her nose in the air, "I worked all day on it. Trying to get it to look right. I _know_ it doesn't look like much, but it should taste just fine. I really really tried to get it to look right but the colors came out all wrong then half the cake fell off and I didn't have time to make a new one…"

Dinah chuckled a bit, not sounding at all worried about what the cake looked like. "Well, who cares what it looks like? All the ingredients are still edible, right? Let's dig in then!" She summoned four plates and four forks and four glasses of milk over to the table along with a cake server.

"Perhaps two of each of those things would be sufficient," Severus smirked.

"Would it please the both of you if I ate some first so you know it's not poisonous?" Lucy asked, becoming annoyed with the men. The cake might not be a masterpiece of decoration but it would taste just fine. She was sure of it.

"That's alright," Sirius said, hugging her from the side, "I'll eat some. I watched you make it so I know nothing in it should kill me. Though I'm still worried about that 'soul' you said you put into it."

"Hm?" Dinah asked, cutting into the cake.

Lucy sighed, taking a seat at the table, "I said I put my heart and soul into this cake earlier when Sirius was teasing me before we left. He then told me he hoped I didn't because then we'd be eating my Horcrux."

"Oh," Dinah said, sitting back in a chair as she served a piece of cake onto a plate. "I don't really think that's how it works."

"Dinah?" Severus's hand settled on his girlfriend's shoulder.

"Mm," she turned a weak smile to him, placing her hand over his; "I'm all right."

"Is something wrong? Is it the cake? I followed the instructions!" she whined. Maybe Sirius was right and the cake had some sort of disease.

Dinah laughed, "No, Lucy. Relax. I haven't taken a bite of the cake yet, if you'd noticed," she smiled and stood, starting to serve the remaining three pieces.

"Oh, sorry," Lucy said, sheepishly.

"Here," Dinah slid plates over to each of their seats as the men reluctantly settled at the table. "Something happened with Tommy on Friday, that's all. It's been bothering me, because it...well, it might be..." she shook her head, waving them off. "Never mind. I'll figure it out. Do you want to take a bite first or should I, Lucy?"

Lucy's head tilted to the side, considering her friend. Something was off. She couldn't place what it was but she knew something major had happened. If Dinah didn't want to talk about it though, she wouldn't force her. "It's up to you. After all, you're the birthday girl."

Dinah laughed, nodding down at the admittedly ugly piece cake on her plate. "Okay, we'll see what I've got myself into here." She stabbed it with her fork, breaking off piece of the heavily-frosted white cake.

Her friend looked as if she'd never experienced something so pleasurable in her life. "Lucy, this is delicious!" she grinned, shoveling another piece into her mouth.

Lucy beamed. She had been sure the cake would be wonderful, but she was thrilled someone else thought so too. "Thanks! See," she said, turning to Sirius, "I told you Dinah would eat it. Now it's your turn," she held a forkful up to his firmly closed mouth.

"It really is good, Sirius, I promise," Dinah insisted, and then pushed Severus's plate a little closer to him; "Here, Severus, you try it too. Don't glare at it, it's not a misbehaving student!"

"Please?" Lucy pleaded, inching the fork closer to her fiancé's mouth, "Dinah wouldn't tell you it was good if it wasn't. Think of it as practice for the wedding cake."

"That will be made by someone else. A profession—mph!" Lucy took the opportunity to shove the fork in his mouth, getting some cake on his face.

She heard Dinah giggle, probably at Sirius's face, before Severus said, "In the interest of avoiding such a situation, I suppose I shall be forced to take a bite."

Lucy smiled, happy that both men were now chewing on her cake. "Oh no!" she gasped, "We forgot to light candles and sing 'Happy Birthday'!"

"Oh, I was so wrapped up in the cake thing that I completely forgot about that!" Dinah exclaimed, "Well, there's still enough cake left."

Severus swallowed, looking at Lucy, "The cake is decent." Coming from Severus this was quite the compliment indeed. He turned to glare at Dinah, "I'm not singing."

"You're not _that_ bad at it, you know." Lucy thought Dinah might be messing with her boyfriend again.

"That is not the point," he flushed, "It is childish."

"Maybe a bit, but it's fun," Lucy insisted. "Hey, next week is the Hufflepuff Slytherin game. You two want to come with me? Sirius isn't allowed as you know, so you don't have to worry about that."

"If you recall," Severus said smoothly after taking another bite of cake; "We have all four of us been on the Quidditch pitch previously. At least, four of us were there for _some _of the time."

Lucy blushed. She'd never done anything like that before. Outside were anyone could have come across them. "That's true. I guess as long as we stay on the pitch then there wouldn't be anything for anyone to complain about would there?"

"Ideally," Dinah chuckled. "So either way I'm sure we'd be happy to go with you."

"I would be unopposed to sitting in the Hufflepuff section this time, if you would prefer," Severus said, looking at Dinah.

"Nah, I don't know that many Hufflepuffs," she smiled; "Maybe we can sit by Andrew and Mae if we're in the Slytherin stands. We should ask if they're going together and where they're sitting."

"As long as it's not too close to that Peaks kid," Sirius grumbled.

"Oh, no, I'm avoiding him like the plague, most definitely," Dinah agreed, biting hard on another piece of cake. "Ever since he told all that stuff to the newspapers. Oddly enough though, aside from him Slytherins have been the group that have been most accepting of me so far. I guess they're split down the middle with the Muggle-born Slytherins that trust me and the more typical ones who don't care either way. Hufflepuffs do come around rather quickly, though. It's actually the Gryffindors that have resisted the most, I think. As Severus has said, they have such a black and white sense of right and wrong. They seem to have such a hard time seeing shades of grey."

"My little Ravenclaws get no mention?" Lucy teased.

"That's not true about Gryffindors," Sirius protested.

"Oh, it is too," Lucy said, turning to look at her husband-to-be, "Tell me is there anything at all good about your cousin Bella?"

"She was a crazy, psychopathic killer so I'm guessing no."

"See, you've just proven Dinah right. I don't hold any love for your dear departed cousin but even I can say she knew how to love. It was a sick and twisted love, but still love."

Dinah smiled; "Yes. Granted, not all people follow their house traits exactly, I was just speaking generally. As I understand it, Harry Potter came around a little bit when he realized what a good person you are, Severus," she nudged him.

"Don't remind me," he snarled.

"Harry's a good kid," Lucy affirmed. "So all four of us are going then? This should be fun! There haven't been any dark storms lately, Bella's gone…things seem to be getting back to normal huh?"

Dinah shocked Lucy when she put her fork down, abandoning the cake, "Um...yeah, normal. So then you...the storm on Friday didn't reach Hogsmeade then, I guess..."

"Oh," Lucy shook her head, "No, it didn't. I didn't notice it anyway. Now that you mention it I did see a lot of flashes of light over this way during the night. I don't know what else I could have thought it was…"

"It was brief," she sighed. "It was over by the next morning, so I'm not surprised it didn't get far. Maybe it was weak, I don't know. The point is, I think Tommy has suffered a major setback and I don't know what I can or should do to help him next, or even if I can find him."

"I think you can," Lucy said, trying to be encouraging, "You helped me and there was no guidebook telling you how to do that. I'm sure you'll find a way to help Tommy too."

Dinah sighed and looked between her boyfriend and Lucy, "Thanks. I guess I'll work it out. It's just difficult...there's so much pressure because I don't know how much time I'll have left or what to do...and I guess I still don't always feel as confident in myself as everybody else seems to feel about me."

Lucy gave her friend a half smile, "It's easy to feel that way about ourselves sometimes I think. Now, did you still want to light the candles or play a game or maybe watch a film instead?"

"Whichever you'd like to do," Dinah said, leaving the choice up to her.

"I think we should light the candles and sing!" She grinned, not deterred by Severus's glare.

Dinah laughed; "Okay, great. Sounds fun. You and Sirius are going to be singing solo, though."

"_She's_ singing solo," Sirius protested, "I'm with Severus on this one." All three heads swung to face him. "What?"

Dinah smiled and said, "Well, we're making all sorts of progress today, aren't we?"

"How's that for a birthday present huh?" Lucy grinned.

Sirius still looked like he had no clue what he'd done, but Severus smirked; ""Well, then? Are you going to get this over with and sing so that I may be dragged to not watch a film? That is if you are still up for it provided that...Sirius and I will not be singing."

Dinah's smile widened as Sirius's mouth dropped open. "Lucy," he whispered, "he used my name…my first name."

Lucy couldn't stop herself from giggling, "Well, you used his so it's only fair," turning back to Dinah she asked, "Is that better than singing or am I going to serenade you by myself?"

Dinah laughed; "I could sing with you. You know, Happy Birthday to Me and all that."

"Alright," she grinned, waving her wand, the candles floating out of her pocket to land on the half-eaten, frosted together cake before being lit.

Lucy gladly sang 'Happy Birthday' while Dinah sang her own version, thinking about all the birthdays she'd spent with the Weasleys. The boys were lucky they weren't experiencing a Weasley birthday. There was nothing else like it and they wouldn't have gotten out of singing so easily.

When Lucy encouraged her friend to make a wish, Dinah seemed to consider it for a few minutes. After awhile she leaned over to grab her boyfriend's hand, smiling at him before blowing out the candles.

"Yay!" Lucy cheered and clapped. "Now we can watch a film on the BVD player!"

"If we must," Severus snarled, and then turned a considering look to Dinah; "Everything all right?"

"Yes," she smiled. "I made a good wish, I think. But I didn't have to wish for what I want the most. Because I already have it," she grabbed his robes and pulled him to her to kiss him.

"And you will not lose it," he smiled at her.

Lucy glanced at Sirius, "Apparently you and I don't count as 'public'."

"You have not for some time," Severus admitted.

"Well, if we don't count as public, neither do they," Sirius said and reached for Lucy. She was only a little afraid he was going to do something no one should have to witness, but he just resettled her on his lap.

Dinah smiled; "I hate to stop you two," Severus snorted, "but if we're going to watch the BV – _D_VD player then we need to get up and go into the other room. I could summon it over here but it's more comfortable watching it from the couch. But if you want to wait a bit I'll go get the box and we can unwrap it here!"

"Go get the box," Lucy ordered, "I'm not done cuddling yet." She laid her head down on Sirius's shoulder while he wrapped his arms around her middle to keep her from falling off.

"Yes, well," Dinah raised one eyebrow, very Snape-like, and clutched her plate, "I'm not done eating cake yet." She stood with the plate and took it into the bedroom.

"Hey!" Lucy whined, "You're coming back right?" When there was no answer she turned to Severus, "She's coming back right?"

Severus watched where his girlfriend had disappeared, looking a bit amused; "I believe so. I find she often forgets that she can use summoning charms for this sort of thing."

"Hmph!"

"Don't worry," Sirius said, brushing her hair off her shoulder, "I can carry you to the couch and we can cuddle there just as well and probably be more comfortable too."

Severus smirked and began tapping his fingers in rhythm on the table as he waited for Dinah to return. They may not be public but he still had no interests in being a voyeur with them around, apparently.

Severus nodded at Dinah as she came back into the room, "Heavy?" he asked her, indicating the large box she was carrying.

"Oh, it's not so bad, it's-" she broke off, placing the box on the table and smacked herself on the forehead, "Guess I could have levitated it all the way in here, huh? Not just down from the shelf into my arms?"

"I never said such a thing," Severus protested, turning away from Dinah, his nose up in the air.

Lucy rolled her eyes and couldn't help but giggle, "I'm afraid my new perch is making your boyfriend very uncomfortable."

"Well, he doesn't like to watch others. Right, darling?"

"Open your box," he ordered and Dinah waved her wand, opening the box.

"A remote!" Lucy squealed when Dinah pulled one out of the box. "Does this work your telly too?"

Dinah shot her an indulgent smile, "Yes, just like the VCR and telly remotes and the video game controllers. Here, though," she said, handing Lucy the wrapping with little bumps all over it, "you might find this interesting."

"Oh, what does it do?" Lucy asked, fascinated.

Sirius chuckled and reached around to grab the wrapping, "Here, I happen to know something about this," he took her fingers in his hand and placed them on either side of one of the bumps. He pressed her fingers together until the bump popped with the accompanying sound.

"Oh!" Lucy repeated, "That's fun. Can I do it again?"

Dinah laughed and even Severus managed to look amused; "You can do it as many times as you like. It can be a great stress reliever."

"Well, that was thoughtful of them," Lucy said, enjoying popping more of the little bumps, "though I'm not sure why Muggles would think a…DVD player is stressful."

Dinah burst into giggles; "No, no, that's not the point. They protect the equipment from getting jostled around too much in the shipping process and getting broken. Like tissue paper but...bubblier. The stress relief is just a nice bonus."

"Oh…and this works like a VCR right?"

"Exactly the same," Dinah unwrapped the larger, DVD player and handed the equally-larger sheet of bubble paper to Lucy. She held it to her chest defensively when Sirius tried to take it from her. "Except that you can navigate 'menus' kind of like on the internet." She flicked her wand and the rest of the box unwrapped itself before she turned to Severus and smiled; "Better?"

"Unequivocally," he muttered. "And yet now the infernal object is out of its wrapping and bared for the whole world to see."

"Oooooh," Lucy crooned, "It's pretty. I like the silver color. Is that was makes it a DVD player and not a VCR?"

Dinah laughed. "No, not the color. Let's go into the other room and get it set up so I can show you rather than tell you."

Lucy didn't even respond, just jumped up from her seat and dragged Sirius out into the living room. She shoved him down on the couch before snuggling up to his side, his arm around her and her head on his shoulder.

The DVD player levitated over to the coffee table, next to the telly, Dinah following behind to sit next to her and Sirius. Lucy could see Severus off to the side, looking through his girlfriend's bookshelves, presumably so he didn't have to acknowledge one of the 'infernal Muggle devices' of Dinah's.

"This is a funny film, you should both enjoy it. See?" Dinah turned to Lucy and Sirius holding a round silver thing, like something she'd been shown before. "It's like a CD."

Lucy nodded, "I'm guessing it wouldn't work if you put it in the diskperson though, right? And a CD wouldn't work in that?" she nodded toward the DVD player.

"Exactly," Dinah beamed; "You're catching on."

Her friend put the shiny disc into the player. Lucy watched, fascinated as it slid into the slot, much like the tape things had gone into the VCR. Severus in the meantime had settled into a chair far away from them. Dinah walked over and sat on the arm of his chair, pushing play on the remote.

"See?" Lucy whispered, "It's like magic."

Sirius just chuckled and leaned over to kiss the top of her head, "Love you," he whispered.

"Mmm," she hummed. Lucy worried for a moment that they were taking up too much of the couch for the couple but Dinah probably wanted to be near Severus and Severus wanted to be far away from the Muggle things.

Lucy could hear the other couple murmuring back and forth for a bit before Dinah said to the room, "Well, aren't we just a ridiculous foursome?" as the DVD menu popped up.

She giggled a bit, studying the menu. "Special features? Audio commentary? _Deleted scenes?_ You mean there are scenes they took _out_ of the film?"

"Most films do take some things out. For time purposes and all that." Dinah stopped explaining for a moment, then she yelled, "Oh, hell. No growling!"

"Really?" Severus asked, "And what pray tell will you do to stop me?"

"Hey," Lucy teased, "what's going on over there? We are over here behaving ourselves and you two are growling at each other."

"I did not growl, he did, and if he doesn't stop I am going to leave him," Dinah announced.

"Permanently?" Severus questioned. Lucy hoped he was only teasing.

"No, silly, I'll go over there and bug them," Dinah said, pointing to the couch. After that there was some more low murmuring that Lucy couldn't make out before the arrow on the screen moved over to the special features section. "Let's see how this works...I haven't read the instructions yet..."

"Fascinating," Lucy breathed, lifting her head a bit to tease her friend, "If you want to come over here we can adjust so you can sit on Sirius's other side. He's good to snuggle with…like a puppy."

She heard Severus growl and Dinah chuckled, "I told you not to do that."

"Well, now you cannot escape," Severus growled. Lucy wasn't sure what was going on back there but she didn't think she wanted to look and find out either.

"As long as he doesn't turn into a dog, I'm good," Dinah murmured, "Ah, there. See, there are cast interviews and outtakes."

"Outtakes? What in the world are those?" Lucy asked, already yawning. She did like watching these with Dinah but they seemed to put her to sleep more often than not.

"Mistakes the actors made when doing the film. Sometimes they can be very funny. And don't you dare fall asleep – if you do I'll kill you and really give the newspapers something to talk about," she grinned.

"Kill her and you'll end up in Azkaban for life and I won't tell you how I escaped, though I promise to visit since Lucy would probably want me to," Sirius teased back.

"If I killed Lucy I probably wouldn't look forward to your visits. Then again, now that there are no more dementors Azkaban can't be that bad, right?"

"Either way, you handle dementors quite well with that snake Patronus of yours," Severus said into his book.

"Oh, you were listening?" she teased.

"Difficult... not to. Although I shall stop doing so the moment that ridiculous film starts. You do intend to watch it sometime this century, correct?"

"Oooh, snarky," she replied, "Now I simply push 'enter' on the remote when this 'play' here is highlighted, and the film should start."

When the film started Lucy sat, enraptured by the experience that was slowly becoming familiar. The film was funny as Dinah and said and three of them laughed more than Lucy thought they would. Unfortunately, to her everlasting shame, with the film nearly over Lucy fell asleep.


	66. Chapter 66

Chapter 66

"Lu? Lucy, come on wake up. The film's almost over," Sirius was telling her, with a gentle shrug of his shoulder against her head.

"Mmm," she growled. What was he thinking waking her up? It couldn't possibly….the film! "Oh!" she said, sitting upright and looking over at Dinah, "I'm _so_ sorry! I didn't mean to! I don't know why I keep doing that to you. Um, I didn't miss much did I?" she asked, blushing.

"Just watch! Watch!" Dinah pointed toward the screen; "Best part coming. You just can't miss it..."

Lucy stared at the screen, determined not to miss the part Dinah thought was so great. When it came she laughed, grateful to have been woken up for it. As the credits started to roll she turned to Dinah and Severus, who were cuddled up quite cozy in the chair. "That was good. Thanks for having us over. I suppose this counts as our 'once a week' gathering," Lucy teased Severus.

"Once a week was on the condition that we do not watch Muggle films. If you add the film into the mix our gatherings decrease to once a month."

Lucy's face fell. She didn't really think he was serious, but still…

"I think it makes more sense to only have a film gathering once a month and have normal gatherings the rest of the time, rather than skipping them all," Dinah smiled. "Especially as there's the Quidditch match this Friday."

"Yes," Lucy insisted, "And we'll stay in the stands this time. I promise. Though if you'd like you can use my corner."

"Mm, we'll see," Dinah grinned, nipping at Severus's ear.

"We shall not see," he grumbled, shutting his book in one swift movement as his face flushed. He tilted his head away but, perhaps fortunately for him, as soon as his lips were within reach she kissed them. He growled, but responded nonetheless. "Perhaps at night sometime," he acquiesced when their lips parted.

"I'll hold you to that," Dinah murmured, lightly kissing him once more before turning to Lucy. "Care for some dinner? It's around that time and all we've eaten is cake."

"Dinner, yes, I'm starving. For food. To eat. At the table." Lucy clarified, blushing profusely at Dinah's amused look. Severus, she thought looked a bit disgusted.

Dinah laughed. "All right. Then food. To eat. At the table. It is."

Sirius gave Lucy a rather significant look.

"Off plates!" she said, turning even redder.

Sirius chuckled, "Interesting that you felt the need to make all those distinctions."

"I will say it again," Severus muttered, standing from the chair after Dinah and wrapping his arms around her waist. "Your friends are incorrigible."

Lucy smiled, her blush not going away. She didn't respond to Severus at all, just stood and walked back to the table they'd vacated in favor of watching the film. "Oh, Dinah, look! They sent up dragon-pumpkin stew!"

Dinah only smiled and seemed content to walk to the table with her boyfriend's arms wrapped around her. Not surprisingly, after she sat at the table Dinah scooped a large amount of stew into her bowl, sitting as close to Severus as Lucy had to Sirius after her little episode. "We'll have to come up with a good time to go shopping, Lucy. I'm excited. That was a great gift idea," she smiled at her friend.

"Sometime before I get married? Maybe one of these weekends soon. We can torture the boys with visions of us trying on lingerie together. Pillow fights…all those stereotypical fantasies."

Dinah giggled and Lucy _thought_ Severus might have rolled his eyes at her but she wasn't sure. "That sounds fun. Maybe when it gets closer to summer we could go. You don't mind spending a weekend day away from Hogsmeade?"

Lucy tilted her head to the side, considering that. She hadn't really thought about it when she'd made the suggestion. Oddly enough though, the idea sat well with her. "No, I don't. I've come a long way this year…wow. I just realized it has literally been a year since…" she gestured at the two men.

Sirius grabbed Lucy's hand for a moment, "Since the battle anyway. I didn't look at the clock then but it might have actually been the next day when we…"

Dinah gasped. Lucy hadn't expected her to remember the day and in truth it had slipped her mind until she'd mentioned it. Today was the anniversary of the night Lucy had been unable to sleep. The night she'd spent alive, but broken and empty.

"May second..." Dinah murmured, "Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. Of the day that-" she turned and looked at Severus.

He was frowning at the stew, and then turned to meet her gaze; "Yes, I hadn't thought about it until now. Today is the anniversary of that day. It has been a year. Granted, I believe Sirius is right and our rebirth was early the next morning..."

"I don't think I got to Hogwarts until late that day…I spent a lot of hours just watching you sleep," Sirius said, moving his hand to stroke Lucy's cheek, "I didn't want to be anywhere else." His lips quirked up into a smirk, "Of course I got the added bonus of listening to you dream out loud. Lucy has quite the imagination."

Lucy heard Severus snort and his spoon clink against his bowl, "I told you to take care of them."

"And I told you they are not my responsibility," she smiled, fingering his robes. "So it's been a year, huh?"

"Indeed," his gaze softened; "Difficult to believe that only that short time ago I woke up in the Shrieking Shack wondering why I was given a second chance at a life that held no meaning for me. Now I know the answer," he kissed her and Lucy and Sirius could only watch as Dinah allowed him, not demurring in the least. "You should have come to Hogwarts over the summer. Everything would have happened much sooner," he murmured.

"No, I think we needed to wait for the youthening potion," she teased.

He chuckled; "Perhaps. But I would have enjoyed that extra time with you."

"So would I," she whispered back.

Lucy frowned at the other couple, "Hey, now he never said what kind of dream I had. For all you know it could have been about puppies."

"What kind of... puppies?" Severus asked, smirking as he turned to eye Lucy, one of his eyebrows lifted.

Lucy was now completely embarrassed and hid her face in her hands, abandoning her meal. "I said it _could_ have been about puppies, not that it was. And yes I do…occasionally talk in my sleep."

Dinah smiled, probably getting ready to tease Lucy about her sex life yet again; "You can't escape the implication, Lucy," Dinah said with a lopsided grin; "Sirius's words and his expression and his tone indicated just what you were dreaming."

Lucy rolled her eyes, wishing her face would cool down. "Yes, yes I had a sex dream," she said good naturedly, "Would you like me to tell you about it? It was…"

"Something we haven't done?" Sirius questioned, apparently enjoying making everyone uncomfortable.

"No, something we've done," Lucy said, about ready to ask if Dinah had any ice.

"You know, generally Lucy when I make that comment you're supposed to admit you had a sex dream and then _stop_. I think the rest is understood."

"Yes. I'll, uh, try to remember next time," she assured her friend with the indulgent look on her face.

* * *

The sun hadn't even risen yet on Monday morning when Lucy was awoken by a screech. Sirius, ever one to sleep, snored. Lucy was grateful she only had to open her eyes and reach out her hand, muttering an incantation so that the owl was properly paid.

Lucy considered going back to sleep but she'd seen the handwriting on the envelope and knew it was Bill's. He wouldn't have sent an owl at that time if it wasn't something important. Yawning, Lucy sat up and cracked seal holding the letter shut.

"Oh!" Lucy gasped as she read the letter. Then, a couple sentences later, she squealed like a little girl.

"What?" Sirius grumbled, in general not a morning person.

"Sorry," Lucy whispered, putting her hand on his arm, "I didn't mean to wake you, but guess what?"

"Voldemort's attacking the school again wearing hot pink panties?" he grumbled into his pillow.

"No and I'm surprised that you didn't suggest it was Severus wearing the hot pink panties. Pleased, but surprised. No," she snuggled down into the bed, curling up next to him, "I'm an aunt…which sort of makes you an uncle."

"An uncle?" he questioned, turning his face towards Lucy but still refusing to open his eyes.

"Yes," Lucy murmured, kissing his shoulder, "Fleur had the baby. A girl. They named her Victoire. A nice present for the anniversary of the battle wouldn't you say?"

"Mmm," Sirius growled into the pillow he'd turned his face into again.

"You know," she said, tired but awake now, "this time a year ago I think I was passed out on the stairs in front of Gryffindor Tower."

"Hardly," Sirius muttered, "I'm guessing you were wide awake in the Great Hall and Fred hadn't even woken up yet."

"Still," she said, giving him another peck, "happy re-birthday."

* * *

"Derwent. Amedeus," Lucy greeted after her sixth year class Monday. They had stayed behind to serve their "detention". The boys smiled at her and pulled out their homework. It was how their detentions usually passed by, at least when they served their detentions with her. The pair _had_ been doing wrong but Lucy believed it had come from a place of desperation and that should count for something. What happened when they were with Severus though, she could do nothing about.

"How has everything been going for the two of you?" Lucy asked, sitting at her desk.

Amedeus bent down, nose nearly on his parchment, and didn't answer her. Derwent, however, looked up and smiled. "Well, the other boys are mad at us but they can't do much about it being in detention all the time, trying to make up assignments, _and_ studying for N.E.W.T.S. Agrona and I have been spending a lot of time with Eloise and Fin. They're Hufflepuffs. I like them. They're nice and they don't care what our blood-status is."

"That's good," Lucy encouraged. She thought for a moment, letting an idea fully form before she spoke, "You know I've thought of a way you might be able to help Professor Samson with something. I'll have to speak to her about it first of course, but if it all works out I think you'll have a chance at becoming respected members of your house."

Derwent smiled and went back to his homework. Amedeus still hadn't said a word but Lucy thought he looked like he might be excited about the prospect of becoming such a person.


	67. Chapter 67

Chapter 67

Tuesday afternoon, Lucy hurried to the Main Entrance doors where she was to meet Ron and Neville Longbottom. She'd promised to meet them there after she informed Professor McGonagall that Eugene had returned to Hogwarts. Dinah, Severus, Harry, and Dumbledore were in and empty classroom having a meeting with the man at the moment. Lucy and the other two boys were to patrol the grounds together keeping watch for the test subject.

Exiting the castle Lucy nodded at Ron and turned to Neville. "So you're the Neville Longbottom I've heard so much about?"

"Y-yes," the round-faced young man said, clearly nervous.

"You don't have to be nervous around Lucy, Neville," Ron told the fidgeting Auror, "She's nothing like Snape."

"Ah," Lucy said, "I'm guessing you were one of the unfortunates tortured by Severus during your school days."

"Y-yes," Neville admitted, "I wasn't very talented at Potions. I've been avoiding coming here as much as I could. I don't want to be near P-professor Snape."

"I can imagine," Lucy said, leading the trio around the grounds. "I find him less intimidating now that I've gotten to know him but he can still…inspire fear when he wants to."

"Are you the one Robards keeps asking about?" Neville asked, seemed a little more confident as they walked.

"Probably," Lucy frowned. She hadn't thought she'd been that important to Gawain that he'd still be asking about her. She certainly hadn't seemed to be when they'd been dating. "Ketteridge. Former Auror," she said, shortly giving Neville more information about herself.

"Ah, right. Ron and Harry must have mentioned it. Engaged to Sirius Black, right?"

"Mmmhmm," Lucy nodded, a small smile touching her lips. She'd always thought it was cliché when people said the thought of another person made them smile but it was true. Sirius made her smile. He made her happy and even in worrying circumstances she couldn't hide that.

"Yeah," Ron muttered, "and they'd better hurry up and set the date before Mum sets one for them. You know she's not thrilled with you living together Luce."

"I know, but she's going to have to be patient. We're both adults and we aren't doing anything wrong."

"Maybe not but I don't want to see it again!" Ron burst out, face turning red.

Lucy's face matched her cousin's. She remembered the night he and Harry had walked in on them, seeing far more of her than either of them probably ever wanted to. "You really weren't supposed to see that," she muttered.

Lucy waved as Jania smiled at her and dragged Tad over. "Hi!" Jania chirped, upbeat as she almost always was, except when dealing with Septimus.

"Are you in trouble Professor?" Tad asked, his glance bouncing between the two young men in their official Auror's robes.

Lucy smiled, careful not to laugh at the boy, "No. I'm helping Auror Weasley and Auror Longbottom patrol. I'm sure you've heard about Mr. Wilkins already."

"Oh, yes," Jania nodded, "It wasn't very nice of him to just leave like that but then to come back as if nothing had happened! I'm not surprised Professor Snape attacked him like that."

"Professor Snape did what?" Lucy asked, her eyebrows rising up to her hairline. Behind her Ron sniggered.

"He attacked Mr. Wilkins!" Tad said, the young Slytherin looked positively thrilled.

"Oh, dear," Lucy murmured, "Why don't you two go inside? There's nothing to worry about but we don't know what Mr. Wilkins is up to yet and I'd feel safer if you were inside the safety of the castle."

"Alright," Jania nodded, "Come on Tad let's go work on our charms homework in the library. The library's okay right? We don't have to go back to our common rooms?"

"The library's just fine. Thank you." Lucy watched the young couple as they scampered into the castle and sighed; she wanted some of her own someday. Kids like Jania and Tad…definitely not like Septimus.

Slowly a chill seemed to spread over the grounds. Frost began covering the grass, creeping towards the castle and Lucy heard Ron gasp. She looked up to follow Ron's gaze and saw three dementors heading for the castle. "No," she whispered. She'd learned about dementors both at Hogwarts and in more depth in her Auror's training.

She froze for a moment, like the Aurors standing at her side, as imagined images formed in her mind. Images of Sirius laying by the lake, hundreds of dementors swarming around him, some swooping down to suck out his soul. He'd been unconscious at the time but he'd had nightmares about it in the Order days and during the summer Harry had recounted that time to both her and Sirius.

But he'd kept his soul…and Lucy shook her head, pushing those and other upsetting memories aside. Instead she remembered the first time she'd revealed her animagus to Sirius. They'd been flirting and he'd thought she'd been trapped between him and the floor. She'd used her fox to escape. At first he'd been shocked but then he'd chased her through the house. He'd grown frustrated at her speed and changed into Snuffles only to be annoyed that he couldn't fit under and behind things that she could. She'd laughed a lot after that. It had been a good day.

She felt the memory fill her up and she smiled, almost laughing again at the thought. Staring at the dementors, Lucy lifted her wand shouting, "_Expecto Patronum!"_ A small, delicate antelope sprung out from her wand, bounding away towards the dementors followed closely by Ron's Jack Russell and Neville's toad.

As the dementors backed off Lucy could hear someone yelling for them. The trio turned and saw Harry running towards them shouting their names.

"Lucy!" Harry panted as he reached them, "Ron, Neville! We've got to get the students inside and go back and help Dumbledore!"

"What? Why?" Neville asked.

"There's, um, the flayed baby and Grindelwald is back. Seems he was the test subject. He youthened Dumbledore!"

"Oh no," Lucy whispered. She knew who Grindelwald was, had heard he died. Was it possible the man had been granted a revival along with everyone else?

"I guess that explains the dementors then," Ron muttered.

"There's more coming!" Lucy shouted, looking over at where their patronuses had been moments before, "We've got to get the students inside. Ron," she said, taking charge, "you go with Harry. Neville, come with me. We'll go out to the pitch and work our way in. You two start at the lake. You know where students like to hide, make sure you find them."

No more was said as they both ran off in separate directions. They rushed every student they found straight back to the castle, forcing them to possibly abandon friends and family to their fates. The students protested, wanting to find their companions, but the Aurors convinced them it was in their best interests to seek the shelter of the school.

Near the school there were hundreds of students, all trying to rush in through the main doors. Many of them, mainly the girls, screamed and ducked as Dinah's flayed baby came streaking out the doors.

She didn't see Ron and Harry outside with them. The pair must have reached the castle and gone inside to direct the panicking students. "Neville, go in and try to find Harry and Ron. Help them. I'm going to make sure all the students get inside. Send them to their common rooms."

The formerly nervous Auror strode inside and Lucy turned to usher in a few more students. A couple of first years had been shoved to the back by the larger students and she rushed to push them ahead of her as she walked up the steps, taking a post just inside the doors. She ushered in a few more of the smaller students before looking up and catching the eyes of Dinah and Severus.

The pair nodded at her, looking very determined. Lucy supposed after these last few days of normalcy something finally had to give. She couldn't fight the flayed baby, no matter how much training she'd had. This was Dinah's prophecy and she looked ready to finish it. She returned their nods and walked farther into the building, still staying within sight of the main doors, watching for any stragglers. Minerva could be heard announcing that the students should return to their common rooms as quickly as possible, where their prefects would do a head count and make sure everyone had returned.

She was thankful she'd sent Jania and Tad back inside when she'd had the chance. She hoped Agrona and Derwent hadn't been outside, nor Mae and Andrew. Lucy hadn't seen any of them and she could only wish that that was a good sign. Of course she didn't want any of the students to be stuck outside with dementors flying about and flayed babies flinging spells every which way, not even Septimus.

* * *

After checking that all the students were accounted for Minerva joined the rest of the faculty and the Aurors who were inside near the Main Entrance. "Everyone made it in then?" Lucy asked. Minerva looked worried but not overly so.

"Yes," the older woman nodded, "though I haven't yet managed to find Albus or Professors Samson and Snape."

"I saw Dinah and Severus heading outside after the flayed baby," Lucy murmured. For a few minutes everyone seemed to hover in indecision. They couldn't go out after their colleagues; the students had to be protected. A few Aurors remained inside to offer another layer of protection; most were outside dealing with the dementors as was shown by the flashes of light from various patronuses.

The whole room turned as Harry came out of an empty classroom. His eyes were red and he seemed more upset than worried about what was happening outside.

"Harry?" Lucy questioned, going over to him and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"It's…Dumbledore's gone. He's…he's dead."

It felt like everyone there gasped at once. Dumbledore dead. It was almost an impossible thought. Of course he'd been dead once before, but since the revival it seemed like the old man might live for many more years.

"But who's going to run the school?" Someone in the crowd asked.

Lucy almost snorted. That seemed like the silliest question to ask at that moment.

"Until everything can be sorted out I'll be taking on his duties," Minerva said, coming over to usher Lucy and Harry over to a quieter spot where they could talk.

"What is going on Potter? What happened to Albus?"

Harry shook his head, "I don't know. He was alive when I left the room and now…Grindelwald's dead too. He was revived last year too and he came back to make up with Dumbledore. Now they're both dead." He looked shocked, but then they probably all looked that way. "They should be buried together I think. He…Dumbledore would have wanted it that way, I'm sure and the Elder Wand will be buried with them."

"I think we would all be in agreement that you should take up his position, Minerva," Lucy whispered.

The Deputy Headmistress took a deep breath and sighed, "The position was last offered to Severus. It should be offered to him again. If he does not wish to take up the job then I shall be glad to."

The doors burst open and a swarm of Aurors and reporters burst in. With the doors opened everyone could see the skies lightened and empty of dementors. One reporter remarked on seeing two snake patronuses and another, Alder Lucy thought, was telling others Dinah must have been the reason for their sudden disappearance.

"I'll go find Professor Snape and Professor Samson. Someone's got to tell them what's happened," Harry said and took off out the doors before anyone could protest.

"Do we tell the students?" Lucy asked.

"No," Minerva shook her head, "not yet. Not until there's something more to tell them."

Lucy stood there, not knowing what to do, while Minerva went to try and take control of the rest of the room. Not long after the hall had quieted Harry returned through the main doors, Dinah and Severus walking behind him.

She felt the tears begin to fall down her cheeks. Dumbledore was dead. He'd been brought back to life only to be tortured by the reason and die a year later. Where was the sense in that? She knew it wasn't but Lucy felt like it might have been her fault in some way. If she hadn't stayed up that night, if she hadn't been so upset by Sirius's death…Surely Dinah and Severus would be able to make sense of all of this.

The room caught sight of Dinah and almost collectively took three steps towards her before Harry yelled, "It's over! The grounds are safe again."

His announcement did nothing to deter the reporters who crashed in on the trio.

"Professor Samson, did you have anything to do with the dementor presence outside?"

"What was that creepy childlike thing we saw float by?"

"Mr. Potter, we have evidence that Professors Snape and Samson were with you when Dumbledore died! What was their involvement?"

"Professor Snape, what do you have to say about the fact that your Patronus is the same snake as Professor Samson's?"

"Professor Samson, does this connect in any way to your mysterious prophecy?"

"Will you stop?" Lucy shouted over all the reporters, wiping at her eyes, "A man died and all you can do is attack those poor people with questions. I'm sure later, when we've sorted ourselves out they will be more than happy to answer your questions but now is not the time."

At her words Minerva pushed through the crowd, making her way to the trio by the doors, anxious to take control of the situation, ""Yes. Please refrain from questioning for the time being. There are things that need to be taken care of, important arrangements that must be made. Severus, has Harry offered you my proposition?"

"Yes," Severus confirmed, scaring the reporters away with his glare. A good deal of them probably remembered him from their school days. "I have no desire for the position. It is all yours."

"Very well, then," Minerva said, nodding and turning to the young Auror, "Harry, you and I will go back and meet the Aurors in the classroom. We must take care of the bodies. The rest of you may come if you wish, but do not get too close."

Minerva took charge in a way that was very firm and comfortable. It was familiar. Her becoming Headmistress seemed a very natural thing.

As the new Headmistress and Harry headed towards the classroom where Dumbledore and Grindelwald lay, Lucy saw Dinah grab her boyfriend's hand and drag him over to where she stood.

When the pair got close enough, Lucy wrapped her arms around her friend. "I'm glad you're okay," she sniffed.

"I'm fine," Dinah murmured, returning Lucy's hug, "Harry was right. It really is over."

"Good," she said, stepping back, "because I'm getting really tired of constantly being on guard. No matter what Mad-Eye used to say."

"Well, don't worry. All that's left to get through are these maniacs," she gestured to the invasive reporters, "and I'm sure we can handle it. But Tommy is at peace now. And, you'll be glad to know, so is Bella," she smiled.

"Oh, that's good," Lucy grinned. Dinah was right, she _was_ happy to know that Bella had moved on and wouldn't be bothering her anymore. "I don't…I don't know what to do. There's not really anything for us _to_ do."

"Yes," Severus frowned, "I'm not particularly inclined to go back into that classroom, unless either of you are. I think we should leave that to Minerva and the Aurors. If there is to be a funeral I'm sure we'll hear of it."

"No," Lucy shook her head, "that's fine. I don't need to see that. I think we all know I don't deal with death well." The events of today were bringing back thoughts of both Sirius's and her mother's death and she was doing her best not to think about it too much.

"I think we should double check with him though," Dinah said. Lucy knew she was confused by that remark. Double check with who? Severus looked just as confounded as she was. "I mean the portrait, in the headmaster's office. It should be activated now. At least let him know how everything turned out, make sure all my theories were correct. Not that I'm really worried, but... well, you know."

"Indeed," Severus agreed; "At the very least it would get us temporarily away from these reporters."

"Alright, that sounds like a good plan," Lucy nodded, before apologizing, "I'm sorry I'm just so…confused right now. Everything's happened so fast."

Before Dinah could open her mouth to reply Slughorn rushed over to them, yelling for Dinah and Severus. Eugene looked rather nervous following behind his employer.

"Glad to see you are both safe. Miss Ketteridge," he said, nodding at Lucy.

Lucy sighed and refrained from rolling her eyes. She had to keep reminding herself the man had good intentions, even if they didn't quite come off that way. "Professor Slughorn. I trust everyone in Slytherin is doing well?" In Severus's absence she assumed any news of Slytherin House would have been reported to Slughorn.

"Oh, very well, very well. All clustered in the common room wondering what's going on like the rest of them," he explained with a wary glance at Severus. "By the way, Eugene here has told me everything. All the details. Oh, don't worry," he rushed to assure them as Dinah's look turned worried, "I haven't gone blathering about to these reporters any of it. You and Eugene will have to make the final decisions about how much to divulge, of course. But I thought you should both know that I've forgiven the boy and intend to keep him on as my potions assistant," he clapped the nervous-looking Eugene on the back. The man positively looked like he was about to fall over with the force of Slughorn's blow. "Intend to have him take over my position sooner or later, too. All in all, I think what he's done has been quite admirable, although difficult to deal with when we didn't know the details."

Dinah nodded, contrasting her boyfriend's frown. "That's fine, I think. It's good to know you really were our friend this whole time," she extended him a hand

"Thank you, Dinah," Eugene looked relieved as he shook Dinah's hand; "Again, I am so sorry for all the trouble I've caused." His nervous gaze shifted to the still frowning Severus. "Professor Snape, that goes double for you. I hope you can forgive me."

"Well, seeing as you did do everything ultimately for the headmaster's sake, and it did make him happy, I suppose I can let that much go," he extended his hand to shake Eugene's, "I don't think we'll ever be the best of friends, however."

Lucy had to stifle a giggle at that. She highly doubted Severus would be the best of friends with anyone with the possible exception of Lily and the obvious one of Dinah. "Yes, we all know Sirius already holds that position," she said, messing with him.

Severus glared at her, an expected response while Dinah and Eugene laughed. "Considering the wound you gave me today, I doubt we can ever return to our previous relationship, whatever that was," the Potions assistant admitted. "But I do hope you'll still offer your insights on my potions projects from time to time. I value your input."

"We'll see," Severus responded, looking away from the other man with an annoyed expression. "If so, it won't be in the immediate future."

"Understood," Eugene almost looked amused as he glanced down at his bandaged leg.

"Wound?" Lucy questioned, pointing at Eugene's bandaged leg, "Severus, did you do that? Is that why Tad looked so thrilled when he told me you'd attacked Eugene?"

"Merlin's beard, was that an entertaining tale!" Slughorn laughed as Severus blushed, "Seems Severus here not only attacked Eugene but he used his specialty – _Sectumsempra,_ you know. I have heard a lot of things about that spell. Smyth has been enthusiastically informing the Slytherin common room of what he witnessed."

"Infernal Muggle-borns..." Severus snarled.

"Now, now, there you go again using that term as though it has anything to do with his behavior," Dinah smiled, laying her hand on his arm; "Besides, it's good to know that a Muggle-born Slytherin is the center of his house's attention for once. And it _was_ sort of impressive to see. No offense, Eugene."

"None taken. I suppose I shall be 'impressed' with the scar for years to come," Eugene said.

Lucy again felt herself smiling in spite of the sadness of the moment, "Oh, I don't know. It might come in handy. Some girls are very impressed by scars, Eugene."

The reinstated potions assistant chuckled; "Well, we'll see about that. I suppose it can't hurt. By the way," he turned back to the other two professors; "I have decided not to try and market the youthening potion. It served its purpose and I don't think it is something that needs to be advertised. It is, um... too much trouble than it's worth, I think."

"Mm," Dinah nodded, looking a little relieved at the thought, "I think that's very wise, Eugene. It did help us and it did help Dumbledore and Grindelwald, but... I don't think it was_ necessary_. People can fix their problems on their own, even if it takes longer. It's better... more natural that way."

"Yes," Severus agreed, frowning; "Not to mention all of the other problems that could come about from a society that just kept youthening itself whenever it wanted to. I do agree that you should not introduce it to the public."

Slughorn sighed, making sure their little group was looking at him before saying, "Such a shame. Powerful potion, that. But I suppose it's all for the best."

"Well," Lucy said, "I'm in agreement with the others on that score. However, we probably should be going, or I should at any rate. There must be something I can do besides hover here in the entrance hall. I should…oh! I should write Sirius. I don't know if he could have seen the dementors and that from Hogsmeade but it really wouldn't do to have him show up here looking for me."

"Good idea," Dinah agreed. "Though he might want to come around anyway, given everything that's happening. I guess...well, I guess you'll have to talk to Minerva now to figure out when he can come and what the rules are and the like. I hope she lets him join us and Quidditch on Friday, if the match isn't cancelled."

"Yes," Lucy nodded, looking out over the crowd, "I'm sure that will all be sorted out in time. I don't want…to bother Minerva with my problems right now."

"Yes...well, I'm sure we'll see you around soon. I have a feeling I won't get through the day before the reporters find me again, but perhaps we'll see you at breakfast tomorrow," Dinah said, looking nervous about that prospect.

"I'll be there," Lucy confirmed, "Good luck with the portrait." She waved a good-bye to her friends and headed to her rooms.


	68. Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Lucy entered her room fully prepared to write Sirius and tell him what happened, only to be confronted with the sight of the man himself sitting in her chair.

"There you are," he said, standing and wrapping his arms around her. "I saw the dementors. A few flew over Hogsmeade and I flooed right over here."

"You flooed? _Why_ have we never used that before?" she asked, hugging him back.

"Perhaps because the house was only just connected to the Network this week," he pulled back so he could look at her face, "Now what's gone on? The school seems to be in chaos."

Lucy sniffed, tearing up again as she thought of the beloved Headmaster lying in the classroom with his love. "Dumbledore's died."

"Dumbledore's…are you sure?" He looked as shocked as Lucy felt.

"Well, I didn't see the body but Harry said he was and I don't think he'd lie. I don't know exactly what happened," she said at his questioning look, "All I know is Grindelwald came back. He was the test subject it seems and he wanted Dumbledore back. I guess they made up and Dumbledore was killed not long after. They're both dead now. Dinah took care of the flayed baby and Tommy. Once things settle down, once we figure out what's going to happen it will be okay I think."

He let her lead him over to the couch and snuggle up next to him. "Is there anything you want to do?" Sirius asked.

"For now just hold me," she whispered.

* * *

"I know this is probably the last thing you need to be worried about but I'm kind of running out of time and well, I want to know," Lucy started, standing across from Headmistress McGonagall in her new office. The change was weird for all of them, but as Minerva had said it was best to get on with things.

"What is it Lucy?" Minerva asked.

"Well, I know you're aware of my arrangement with Dumbledore regarding Sirius…" she trailed off unsure of how to explain herself.

"You want to know if he can keep coming on Wednesdays and some weekends I assume?"

"Yes," Lucy nodded, "and I never got a chance to ask Dumbledore this but as long as the match is still on I was wondering if it'd be okay for Sirius to come to the quidditch match tomorrow? We were sort of planning on going with Dinah and Severus, as long as he had permission to be here…"

"The match has been delayed until next week, though there's no reason he couldn't attend as long as he behaves appropriately."

Lucy grinned, "I'm sure he'll behave as appropriately as he ever does."

"You forget Sirius Black was a member of my house. I remember how he used to act and that wasn't very appropriate at all."

Minerva certainly knew Sirius well, Lucy thought, laughing. "Well, I promise to do my best to keep him on his best behavior. There…was one other thing, but I don't know…"

"Please, just say whatever it is. One more thing will not make much of a difference."

"Well, I haven't even talked to Sirius about this yet but he's always saying 'whatever you want' when it comes to the wedding…I was just thinking, there's this spot near the lake…I'd really love to get married there. We were thinking December, it'll be cold but depending on the date most of the students would be home so there wouldn't be too much disruption of the school…."

"With the proper arrangements I don't see that being much of a problem." Lucy couldn't be sure but she thought Minerva mumbled something about 'all these weddings' which was odd since she was the only one getting married, unless perhaps a couple of the seventh years had gotten engaged.

"Alright then," Lucy nodded, "I suppose I'll see you tomorrow at the funeral."

"Yes," Minerva said, "and as it's open to the public, Sirius is allowed to come in case you were wondering."

"I know," she murmured, "Thank you."

* * *

"Are you ready?" Sirius asked her Friday as they prepared to leave for Dumbledore and Gindelwald's funerals.

"I think so," she sighed, smoothing her black robes down her front, "I said good-bye to him once and even though I was glad he came back I think he's more at peace where he is now then he was when he was here."

"What do you think it will be like?" Sirius asked.

Lucy shrugged, "I don't know. I wasn't there last time. Crowded I suppose. Do you think they'll be…laying there for anyone to see?"

"I'm sure they'll already be entombed. The last thing that anyone who knew Dumbledore well would want is for people to come and gawk at him and Grindelwald."

"Oh, good," Lucy nodded, "I…wasn't there for yours, not that there would have been a body anyway, but I didn't like seeing my mother like that. It's an image that's stuck with me. I don't remember if they laid Gideon and Fabian out."

Sirius didn't say anything, just hugged her and led her outside. When they made their way outside they saw the students crowded into chairs near the back and people milling about, too many people for the seats available it seemed.

Lucy tried to lead them to the faculties reserved seats near the front but Sirius held her back. "Aberfoth's over there talking to Dinah and Severus. We should go say hi."

"Alright," Lucy murmured. She liked Aberforth but she wasn't looking forward to facing Dumbledore's brother. She was after all the reason he'd come back to life, the reason he'd suffered this last year, the reason he was now back in his tomb.

"Hi," Sirius greeted, nodding at the group.

"Hi," Dinah smiled and Severus nodded.

Aberforth smiled at Lucy and she rushed over to give the gruff old man a hug. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," he said, wrapping his arms around her, "It would have happened whether you were the one there that night or not."

"Yes, and think of all the good things it did," Dinah said, "Dumbledore is at peace with Grindelwald. Take it from me – he was very happy before he died. Very happy."

Lucy nodded, stepping back from Aberforth and turning to look at Dinah, "There is that and you're right a lot of good did come from it." She took Sirius's hand and smiled, "A lot of good."

"Well, I suppose I'd better be seated before all the good seats are taken," Aberforth grumbled; "You two should come by the bar one of these nights, I'll treat you to half-priced drinks," he offered, before shuffling off to sit in the third row.

Lucy grinned. That old man really did like her.

"Your Weasley brood has shown up," Severus muttered.

She turned to see the entire red-headed clan making their way over to where Lucy stood with Harry and Hermione part of the group. Tonks, her bubblegum pink hair back in place and starting to look pregnant, rushed over to wrap her arms around Lucy. Remus followed behind with Teddy at a more sedate pace. He looked tired but pretty healthy. The next full moon was about two weeks away though.

Lucy grinned at Severus over Tonks's shoulder, "They're hardly _my_ brood." She stepped back from her pregnant friend, looking her over. "Look at you! Starting to show." This at least was a very happy thing amidst the sadness of the day. "Oh!" she said, not even giving Tonks time to respond, "I've been rude." She took Teddy into her arms before turning back to Dinah and Severus. "Dinah, this is Tonks, Remus, Teddy and baby," she said, indicating each person in turn.

"Ah," Dinah smiled; "I've heard...a lot about the both of you. Very nice to meet you," she extended her hand toward Tonks first.

"Hi," Tonks said, smiling and taking Dinah's hand. "Watch this one," she said, gesturing to her currently blue haired son, who was reaching for Dinah, "He likes to grab hair."

"Teddy turned one last month," Lucy told her friends, holding tightly to the boy and keeping his hands from ripping out Dinah's hair.

"Severus," Remus, finally spoke up, nodding at the other man. Lucy assumed he and Sirius had greeted each other while she was busy with Tonks and Teddy.

"Lupin," Severus nodded back, "Both of you in the same place, standing here in front of me again. Together. Lovely." Dinah laughed a little before Severus continued; "However, seeing as I have forgiven Sirius his transgressions and you were never as much a part of the...issues as the rest of them..." he seemed to consider.

"Yes, but I didn't do much to stop it," Remus frowned. Lucy knew he still felt guilt about that. "For that I apologize."

"True, but I suppose that can be overlooked now," Severus unhooked his arm from Dinah's and extended his hand toward the other man.

Lucy was glad when Remus reached out and took his former enemy's hand.

Tonks on the other hand looked at Lucy cuddling Teddy; his mother's gaze shifting between Lucy and Sirius every so often. "I hope you're prepared to have a litter Padfoot," Tonks teased, "Lucy might be an only child but she does love kids. Lots of little Padfeet."

Remus rolled his eyes at his wife, but did chuckle a little too. "You know dear, together they are in fact…Padfeet."

Dinah looked about ready to squeal when Severus cut her off, saying, "You may want to refrain from using that term unless you look forward to losing your hearing when Dinah starts squealing due to the 'cuteness'."

"Oh, hush!" his girlfriend laughed, nudging him.

Sirius just smiled and shook his head saying, "We'll get there soon enough on our own."

Lucy's smile reflected Sirius's. They hadn't sat down and had a pointed discussion about kids. They both knew they wanted them but it was nice to hear him hint at it every so often. "Oh, no," Lucy muttered as she saw Gawain enter the grounds.

"What?" Dinah asked. She wouldn't have any clue what Gawain looked liked, Lucy realized.

"I forgot to warn you about that," Tonks said, glancing over to where the Ministry workers were standing. Gawain, standing next to Kingsley, running a hand through his blond hair and shoving his glasses back up his nose. He seemed…shorter then Lucy remembered. "He had to come, to represent the Ministry and all that. Probably would have come anyway…he does ask about you sometimes."

"The blond," Lucy said to her confused looking friend, "is Gawain."

"Ah!" Dinah said, "Your old boyfriend."

"Robards," Severus sneered; "Rarely had to deal with him but always found him irritating. Come, we should find our seats," he pulled Dina away, letting her smile and wave good-bye to the group.

Gawain broke off from his group and sauntered their way. He'd never used to walk like that. It must have been new since his promotion. "Nymphadora," he nodded to Tonks, whose hair had gone bright red.

"Don't. Call. Me. Nymphadora," Tonks said through clenched teeth.

"Lucy," he said, ignoring the other woman and kissing Lucy on the cheek. It was more public affection than he'd ever shown her while they were dating. He stepped back and stared at Teddy whose hair was now closer in color to Lucy's and not his mother's red. "Oh, um. I hadn't heard. Congratulations."

"He's mine," Tonks said, grabbing Teddy and still clearly annoyed with her boss.

"Oh. Well, then I suppose there's still a chance for me to make up for my mistakes, eh, Lucy?" he asked, smiling at her and completely ignoring Sirius who'd come up to take hold of her hand.

"No, not really," Sirius growled, lifting Lucy's left hand, "She happens to be engaged."

"Ah, right. Now that you say that I do remember Potter mentioning something about that…Weasley too. I'll…I'll just be going then."

"Gawain," Lucy called, feeling bad for the guy. She didn't think he was obsessed with her so much as the idea of her. He just wanted a nice, decent girl to settle down with. "You should ask Felicity Spore out to dinner sometime. She told me once, before I quit, that she had a bit of a crush on you."

"Felicity?" he said, as if the idea of dating the secretary had never occurred to him. It probably hadn't. "Yes, she seems like a nice girl. Perhaps I'll take your advice. Thank you," he said, walking away, seeming to contemplate the thought.

"I think we'd best find our seats as well," Remus suggested.

"Good idea," Lucy agreed, and turned to the still glaring Tonks, "Can I have your son back or do you want to keep him?"

"As long as he stops transforming himself to look like your kid," Tonks grinned, handing Teddy back to Lucy.

"Aw, he just likes me is all," she assured her friend, following Remus to some empty seats in the front.

After they sat a wizard in black robes walked up to the tomb and began talking. Lucy and Tonks leaned against each other, their friendship evident. Sirius's hand wandered to Lucy's knee, squeezing it in a comforting manner. She'd admit to a few tears falling here and there but for the most part she handled her former Headmaster's funeral rather well she thought.

When he was done speaking everyone stood, shuffling around and making their way out. Lucy handed her little friend back to his mother, "Do you want to meet us back at Hogsmeade House? The Weasleys are going to be there. Harry and Hermione too. I just have to go back to my rooms and grab a few things."

Remus nodded, "Alright, we'll meet you there." The group headed towards the obvious group of Weasleys. They'd probably make their way slowly to the house and Lucy and Dora would be there before the lot of them.

Lucy rushed over to where Dinah and Severus were making their way back towards the castle. "Dinah, hold up a minute. Do you think I could talk to you for a little bit? I mean if you're not busy," she asked with a glance at Severus.

"Of course not," Dinah assured her, "Severus just has to go prepare for some mysterious meeting with Harry," she teased him and he rolled his eyes.

"Um, okay," Lucy said, pulling Dinah away. She didn't really know how to respond to Dinah's teasing of her boyfriend. "So, I was wondering if you'd like to come to a _really_ impromptu engagement party?"

Dinah bit her lip, looking uneasy, "Sure, um... when?"

Lucy frowned a bit, wondering why her friend looked so worried about the whole thing. Really it was just a little get together nothing serious. No presents or food to be brought. "Well, now. I mean it's not an actual engagement party. Not really planned like I said. The whole family's going to be at Hogsmeade House and we haven't really had a chance to celebrate with everyone yet…They don't know a thing about it. I just thought it'd be nice," she shrugged, "and maybe you and Severus would like to come. I know he has issues with Harry and the Weasleys and Remus and I know its last minute so if you guys have plans I'll understand. Please don't think you'll hurt my feelings…"

"Oh," Dinah sighed, looking guilty. She smiled; "Thanks for the invite, but I don't think... well, that's a lot of Severus's old enemies and rivals in one place at once and we did have some plans."

Lucy giggled a bit, "Dinah, really, it's okay. Like I said, it is really last minute and I didn't think Severus would be comfortable with all the people there."

"Okay, but thanks for the invite. I'm sure you'll have fun. Should I get a gift?" Dinah asked.

"Oh, no. Sorry, I probably should have mentioned that. No gifts required. I mean if you find something that you think we just have to have I won't refuse a gift but don't feel obligated to."

"Okay," Dinah smiled, looking pretty happy, "Have fun then. Give everyone our regards. Severus's too, of course. It's just my job to do it for him," she winked.

Lucy laughed at that. She knew exactly what Dinah meant. "Alright, I will. Enjoy your weekend," she waved, going off to fetch her cat and head to her party.


	69. Chapter 69

Chapter 69

Later that evening Lucy and Sirius were stealing a quiet moment together in the kitchen, when a noise from the entrance had them stepping back from each other.

"Sirius? Lucy?" Harry hesitated in the doorway.

"Come in, come in," Sirius said, wiping at his mouth.

Lucy laughed. He really could be silly sometimes. "I wasn't wearing any lipstick. You're fine, buddy," she said, patting his arm.

Harry just shook his head, "Every time…I always seem to be interrupting _someone_ snogging."

Lucy smiled and rolled her eyes, "What is it?"

"Well," Harry said, coming farther into the room and sitting at the table, "Snape gave me these…" He pulled half a picture and a piece of parchment out of his pocket.

The picture held a woman Lucy had never seen before but she recognized her from her green eyes, so like Harry's. "Lily," she whispered, handing the picture to Sirius.

"I remember this picture," Sirius murmured, "You have the other half of this already right?"

"Yes. It's in the photo album Hagrid gave me first year. You can have it back if you want it. It is yours."

"No, no. They're your parents. You should have the picture. I know there are some of us Marauders and your mother somewhere. We'll have to go through them if they ever turn up."

Harry nodded, "What I don't understand is, why give this to me now?"

"Well," Lucy said, "maybe he doesn't need her anymore. I'm sure he'll always love her in a way but he doesn't need her."

"That's not surprising I guess. I'm always catching him and Professor Samson snogging. I swear, they're nearly as bad as you two."

* * *

Lucy stared sleepily at her bagel and cream cheese Monday morning. The Weasleys had stayed all weekend, making for some sleepless nights. Victoire had been pretty cute though. She didn't seem to have inherited the Weasley red hair, but instead favored her mother's coloring. That could change in time though. She was, after all, barely a week old.

A hand smacked the table in Lucy's line of sight, nearly planting itself in her food. Before she could look up to see whose hand it was, Dinah said, "Mine's sparklier than yours."

Lucy's mouth dropped open, hardly believing what she was seeing, "Dinah!" was all she could manage.

She looked up to see her apparently engaged friend giggling and holding a finger to her lips; "Shh. We don't want the students to know yet. Not until next year." Dinah's gaze slid across the way to stare at Severus as he entered the room. He smiled at the pair of them. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor seemed happy enough with the situation.

"Well," Lucy said, thinking back to January when she'd been in a similar situation, "if you're keeping it secret I suggest you take your hand off the table and maybe take the ring off too. I only say that because mind lasted maybe four hours without someone noticing."

Dinah laughed at her suggestion. Lucy didn't entirely blame her. She hadn't wanted to take hers off either, still didn't in fact. "Thanks, but I'm not too worried. The students are still not especially cognizant of the full extent my relationship with Severus. At least, many of them aren't. I don't think it's a conclusion they would immediately jump to. But I'm not going to flaunt it and I can always cast a concealment charm on it during class if absolutely necessary." Dinah smiled down at her diamond ring, shifting her hand back and forth so the jewels caught the light.

Lucy grinned and made a show of hiding her eyes from the blinding rainbows of light the ring cast, "Stop that, you're blinding me." She brought her hands down and took a bite of her bagel before continuing, "To be completely honest though I think mine got outed so soon , in part, because Ginny was the one who noticed and she'd been making noises about us getting engaged since at least the start of the school year."

"Yes," Dinah said, "I'm afraid I don't have any students who are quite so attached. Then again, it's possible Mae might notice. I'll hide it during my first years' class."

"Mae's pretty great," Lucy agreed, "She came to one of my office hours to spend the entire time inspecting my ring. She approves by the way. I might just have to invite her to the actual wedding…along with a few other students."

"That's nice," Dinah said; "I wonder if I should invite Mae and Andrew, too... then again, it's probably better to keep it quiet until next year from all the students. Not that I think they would tell if we asked them not to, but friends have a way of noticing things." She flushed. "Uh, speaking of actual weddings. I am officially extending you an invite. Both you_ and_ Sirius are invited."

"Oh!" Lucy said. She hadn't expected an immediate invitation though she would have been upset if she'd not been invited at all, and then to include Sirius on top of it. "Thanks. We'll be there. Just let me know when and where. We keep getting asked when we're going to set a date but right now I'm busy concentrating on finishing up the year and we're enjoying just being engaged so they're just going to have to be patient."

"Mm, I guess that's where we differ then," Dinah grinned, inspecting her ring again; "Not that I don't enjoy being engaged. I do, but since there isn't a whole lot to worry about for the very small wedding we've planned and since I look _so_ forward to becoming Severus Snape's wife, we've decided to get married very quickly." She turned her grin to Lucy; "That said, how does Thursday next week look for you?"

"Um, well I…I have class, but other than that…it sounds great! Of course, I do have a bit more family to plan on than you, not that that's bad or good, just takes more effort you know," Lucy said, grinning at her friend.

"I understand," Dinah grinned; "And don't worry about class. That's the best part! Minerva has said that you and I and Severus can_ cancel_ our Thursday classes! I know a weekday is weird but we wanted the weekend for a brief honeymoon."

"That's wonderful," Lucy clapped her hands together.

"Oh, and I sort of wondered..." Dinah said, blushing, "Would you be willing to make the cake?"

Lucy felt her eyes grow wide at Dinah's question, "Really? Are you sure? I mean you saw it last time and the boys refused to eat it…" Surely Dinah wasn't serious about this.

"They ate it eventually," she smiled. "Lucy, yours was absolutely the best cake I've ever tasted and I would love to eat the same thing at my wedding! It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but..." she flushed again and looked a little embarrassed; "Well, would you mind maybe using magic for the actual design? Make it the same way you did before, of course, but for the looks department... no offense meant, of course."

Lucy beamed. She knew it was a little childish to feel this way perhaps but her father had _never_ praised her for anything that she could remember. "Of course! You won't regret this I promise."

"Wonderful! Now there's just one more thing... oh, I'm hungry!" she reached for a bagel from the basket and went about smothering it in jam. Lucy wasn't really surprised; rather she'd been more shocked that Dinah hadn't grabbed something to eat yet. "Do you want to go to Diagon Alley with me this weekend and use my present? I thought maybe we could peruse shops for wedding dresses, too. I still need one and I'm sure you'd enjoy looking around although I guess it's still early yet for you."

"Yes! That sounds fun! Oh, I'm excited now," she grinned, "Although, and please don't take this the wrong way, but wouldn't you rather have your mum go dress shopping with you? I mean I'll go with you no problem, but…well if I found something I'd want Aunt Molly to see it before I bought it."

Dinah smiled; "Oh, Severus and I actually spent the weekend at my parents'. We talked about everything already, and Mum says whatever I think would probably be great. It's not going to be a big wedding and I don't think I want anything overly fancy, just... something nice."

"Oh," Lucy said, realizing that perhaps if she was Dinah's age she might feel the same way. She didn't want to go over the top for her wedding but she did want the tradition of having a wedding party and all the stuff that went with a wedding. "That's good then. Yes, let's do it. We can stay the night at Grimmauld Place if you'd like, but then you'd probably rather not. Either way it's fine and who knows maybe I'll find some…things for the wedding night."

"That's the idea," Dinah said, winking; "You know they sell very fancy bridal lingerie at that store."

Lucy blushed, "Yes, actually I do." She laughed as Dinah rolled her eyes, probably thinking something about her over-sexed friends or the like.

"Well, I should probably get back over to my fiancé. Oh, and Grimmauld Place is fine. We'll have to decide on more details when it's closer to the weekend."

"Yes, yes, of course," she said, spotting Slughorn coming their way, "You'd better get going before Slughorn gets a hold of you. Save yourself."

"Oh, yes, definitely," Dinah agreed with a laugh, abandoning Lucy.

* * *

"I plan on grooming the boy to take over my position when I'm ready to retire again and I'm determined that this retirement shall be my last. No more coming back to teaching for me, no," Slughorn yammered on.

At least this was something besides extolling her soon-to-be-relations in the Black family. Since everything had happened the man had seemed to improve, at least in Lucy's opinion anyway. She was grateful when Dinah came up to the table and interrupted her lunch, "Hey, do you have a minute?"

"Sure," she told her friend, "If you'll excuse me Professor?" she asked Slughorn.

"Of course, of course," he said, standing and pumping Dinah's hand up and down, "Congratulations, Dinah! Such exciting news!"

"Yes. Thank you. Again," Dinah said. She didn't seem bothered by Slughorn but she must have heard a similar statement from him at least three times a day since the faculty had been informed.

"You two must have much to talk about, being in the same boat and all. Please, go about your business," he said, waving them away and turning to the professor on his other side.

"What is it?" Lucy asked, as they walked away from the table.

"Well, it seems that Severus and I have other plans for the weekend, so we'll have to reschedule our trip."

"Oh," Lucy said, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice. She'd been looking forward to her first real weekend away from Sirius. Not that she wanted to be away from him per say it was more that then she would know she _could_ spend a weekend without him. "Well, that's alright, but we won't have another weekend before the," she looked around to make sure no students were nearby, "wedding to go shopping."

"It's okay," Dinah said; "I asked Minerva and she said we could take Monday – cancel our classes and go, if you wanted. Severus and I are telling the students we're canceling classes due to legal stuff and interviews and the like, but you might be able to use that excuse too."

Lucy nodded and smiled, "Or I could just tell them I've got an appointment for _my_ wedding. Even if Ginny and Hermione ask questions about that I highly doubt they're going to want to go lingerie shopping with me."

"Great idea," Dinah grinned and stopped at the door to her classroom, leaning against the frame; "You won't believe where we're actually going this weekend."

Luckily, Lucy had office hours after lunch so there wasn't too much of a rush to get back to her rooms, besides lunch wasn't over yet anyway. "Where? Azkaban? Madam Puddifoot's? Oh! Some Muggle wedding shop?"

Dinah laughed at her, which Lucy supposed was well deserved considering her guesses. When she finally stopped laughing Dinah shook her head, "No. Malfoy Manor."

"Oh," Lucy said with a straight face, "Well, I'm sure they're perfectly lovely. I've never had the pleasure of meeting them myself and I think I mentioned earlier Narcissa seems to think my engagement ring is hers but really I'm sure they're fine."

Dinah shifted and Lucy realized her response had probably seemed rude, "Well, I didn't say it was excitingly wonderful news or anything, just surprising. I mean, yeah, it's weird. But they invited Severus and he used to be friends with them. He doesn't like to say friends but I think he _did_ consider them friends but has been very cautious about thinking that ever since Lucius fell out of favor with Voldemort a couple of years back..."

"Sorry, it _is _surprising. I've never had any dealings with them really so I suppose I shouldn't have responded like that. I've just heard some stories from Sirius, then there's the way they've always treated the Weasleys…I guess I'm being unfair to them. They have kept to themselves since the war and I'm sure they realized where they went wrong and such," Lucy said, also shifting around.

"No, that's okay," Dinah agreed, "I know they're not perfect and they are definitely still more... Death Eater-like than Severus, certainly, although I guess they're sort of coming around. I mean, I'm trying to be my empathetic Hufflepuff self and all that, but I am nervous. I don't think they'll like me. After all, I'm a 'Mudblood', right?"

"No," Lucy shook her head, "If anything you're Muggle-born. I guess they do deserve some of that Hufflepuff forgiveness. Draco at least seemed to get in over his head with the whole thing…didn't really understand what it all meant."

"Yes," Dinah agreed softly; "Voldemort wanted _him_ to kill Dumbledore, but he couldn't do it. Severus did it for him. To help him."

Lucy thought back to that time. She'd only been back for about four months then. She didn't have the best recollection of that time but she did know some of what Dinah was talking about. "I can't imagine how hard that must have been. I obviously wasn't there so I didn't know until long afterwards…"

"Yeah," she nodded. "That's why it helps that he was reborn and that was sort of erased for him. Not that any of us wanted him to pass away a second time, though..." she shook her head and laughed; "Anyway, though, I guess I probably shouldn't call myself a Mudblood in front of Severus. He might kill me."

Lucy grinned. That was a rather amusing thought she had to admit, mostly because she hadn't the least thought that Severus would actually go through with such a thing. "Perhaps. If he does, though, I happen to know someone whose murder conviction was overturned so I'm sure we'll do all we can to help him get out. If only because I know you'd hate the thought of him locked up in Azkaban for the rest of his life."

"Right. Thanks, much appreciated." She sighed, "Well, I guess it'll be all right. I'll just be friendly and unassuming I guess. They don't know I'm coming, but Severus insists that he will make it clear very early on that they should be nice to me."

"I'm sure he will. Of course," Lucy giggled as a thought occurred to her, "you are blonde so you should fit right in."

Dinah raised an eyebrow, "I don't think it's quite that simple. Besides, as I understand it they are all platinum blond. If my hair was much darker it'd be light brown."

"Ah, minor details. It's sort of like how people point at my head and declare I _must_ be a Weasley. I don't know where they get that from, honestly," she teased.

"Isn't it funny how people just make assumptions?" Dinah grinned. "Well, I guess I should be getting class ready. Thanks for talking with me. It helped to just get my thoughts out, I think."

"Anytime," Lucy said with a wave as she headed to her office.


	70. Chapter 70

Chapter 70

"So I get to keep you all weekend then?" Sirius asked, later that night. They laid curled up together staring at the moon. In less then it a week it'd be full Lucy estimated.

"Mmmhmm," Lucy nodded, "Dinah seemed like she wanted to go. I mean she wasn't thrilled but she was also sort of hinting for opinions on the Malfoys. So, sorry, no new fancy panties for you to _destroy_."

"I didn't destroy them," he insisted, "I just used _difindo_ and they were easily repaired in the morning."

"That pair yes," she conceded, "but what about the thirteen other pairs?"

"Well," he said, blushing, "_some_ of them were fixed, others were beyond redemption but that's hardly my fault."

"Oh, and how is it my fault?" she teased.

"You buy the kinds meant to inspire impatience and also are easily ripped to bits."

Lucy chuckled, "Only sometimes."

* * *

On Friday, they were still on the subject of Lucy's underwear. "See?" she asked, holding up a lacey orange pair that looked like they'd been clawed apart…and if she remembered right they had. Not that he'd stayed in his animagus form after that but they'd sort of surprised each other that day. Neither of them had thought the other would be in the room yet.

"Yes," he said, looking completely serious, "they look quite lovely but I don't think they're appropriate for a quidditch match. They don't seem very…serviceable."

Lucy rolled her eyes at her fiancé, "They weren't supposed to be serviceable you know that very well, but now they're completely useless."

"Then _why_ do you still have them?"

"Um, well," she blushed, "I don't really know." A knock on the door had Lucy hastily stuffing the panties in her pocket. "That'll be Dinah and Severus. I told them to meet us here since I wasn't sure when you'd be showing up exactly."

"What would they say if they knew I was here last night?"

"That'd say you're a horrible influence on this rule-abiding Ravenclaw and I'm sure Severus would take great pleasure in having you banished from the grounds," Lucy said as she opened the door.

"Who am I banishing?" Severus asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, apparently having heard the tail end of her speech as Dinah's eyes drifted towards him with a slight laugh.

"That one," Lucy said, pointing to the couch Sirius was reclining on, "He's breaking the rules and destroying my personal property."

"Now's your perfect opportunity to take those one-thousand points you were talking about and give that eternal detention," Dinah nudged him and he shot her an annoyed look.

"I'm sure Severus would love to do that to me if he could," Sirius grinned at Dinah.

Dinah smiled back at him, and Lucy was glad at the ease of their relationship; "The 'if he could' being the operative phrase of course. What's that?" she pointed at Lucy's robes.

"Evidence for a debate we were having," Lucy blushed, trying to discreetly tuck the bit of orange lace back into her pocket.

"It's underwear," Sirius told them quite unabashed.

"Sirius!" Lucy shrieked, "Wonderful, now they're bound to think I'm not _wearing_ any. I am," she said, turning to the other couple who looked very uncomfortable right about now. "We were having a discussion about how _someone_ likes to destroy them and these were evidence. I was trying not to repeat anything like the 'just come in' incident. They're clean in case you were wondering," she hastily added.

"So let me get this straight," Sirius said, sitting up, "not only have you kept a ripped up pair of panties but you had them cleaned?"

"Well, I'm not about to keep dirty underwear lying about am I?"

Severus was scowling but Dinah laughed; "So dedicated, Lucy."

"Dedicated?" Lucy asked, confused as she shuffled to her bedroom door and tossed the offending bits of cloth inside. This of course let Dora out who immediately started rubbing on Severus and purring.

"Cleaning ripped underwear," Dinah clarified, her raised eyebrow so much like Severus's. "What else did you think I was talking about? Severus, it's just a cat," she laughed at her fiancé who was glaring at Dora as though she was some kind of disease-ridden monster.

"Animals," was all Severus growled out.

"Sorry," Lucy mumbled, scooping up her cat and tossing her back in the bedroom, "She likes Godric, you probably smell like him," she said, hoping to get away from the subject of her underwear.

"Oh, don't mind him," Dinah assured her; "He's just still in the 'getting used to his new pets' stage, so he's a little more hostile towards animals since yesterday. It didn't help that Godric woke us both up in the morning howling at the ceiling and crawling all over us. Though I don't know what's surprising. He's done that in my old rooms with us before."

"It is different when it is in _my_ rooms."

"_Our _rooms!"

"When your cat does that, they're my rooms," was his response, causing Dinah to fold her arms across her chest and shoot him a pointed, annoyed look.

Sirius shook his head, laughing, "Sound like an old married couple already."

Dinah's arms relaxed a little and she smiled; "It feels natural." Severus managed to smile as well.

"Oh? And what does that make us?" Lucy asked.

"The young, hip couple who argue about underwear," Sirius smirked.

"Young," Severus repeated in a sarcastic tone, smirking at Sirius.

"Well, she is," Sirius said, standing and grabbing Lucy around the waist, "Practically a baby."

"I am not!" Lucy protested.

Dinah just smiled, probably thinking it would be unwise to comment on that; "Ready to go?"

"Yes, let's go before these two find another reason to make fun of us." Lucy said to Dinah. The foursome headed out for the pitch, greeted with stares and whispers. "Is there a reason we're being stared at and talked about?"

"Sirius's presence?" Dinah suggested as they approached one of the Slytherin stands. She stopped and looked up as though searching to make sure the right people were in this one.

"Mmmm, perhaps. You looking for someone in particular?" Lucy asked.

"Mae and Andrew," Dinah admitted. "See?" she held up what appeared to be a bare left hand; "I concealed my ring just for the occasion."

"I didn't," Lucy grinned, following Dinah up the stairs.

"Can't believe I agreed to sit in the Slytherin stands," Sirius muttered behind her.

"Oh, hush. You had no problem giving me a Slytherin ring, besides Mae isn't Slytherin you can sit next to her if you feel the need," Lucy teased.

"You'll like Mae, I think," Dinah grinned, and then pointed; "Oh, there they are! And it looks like some of your favorite students are in there too, Lucy."

"Oh, Tad and Jania! You'll like them too," she told Sirius, "I'm thinking of inviting them to the wedding…if you don't mind of course. Then again we have to set a date first…Anyway Jania's a Hufflepuff so you won't be surrounded by Slytherins. Plus there's me, a Ravenclaw, and Dinah a Gryfflepuff. Hey, look at that Dinah! Jania and Tad seem to be talking to Mae and Andrew."

"That's nice," Dinah smiled up into the stands where the students in question were talking; "Isn't Jania a reserve player for Hufflepuff?"

"I believe so," Lucy said, "she must have let them know she was sitting over here if they needed her though." She stepped back to allow Severus to lead Dinah to a place near the students in question, where there was room enough for four to sit…as long as they sat close together.

"Professor Samson! Professor Snape!" Mae Yates greeted the other couple with a cheerful wave, and Dinah smiled in greeting while Severus raised both eyebrows briefly and almost looked friendly. "Oh, hi Professor Ketteridge! Is this your fiancé?"

"Yes," Lucy said, smiling and grabbing Sirius's hand. "This is Mr. Black. Sirius this is Mae and Andrew and a couple of my third years, Tad and Jania," she indicated each student in turn.

"Oh, it's so nice to meet you!" Jania enthused, sticking out her hand to shake Sirius's. "Professor Ketteridge refuses to tell us much about you but you make her smile."

"Really? Well, I would hope so. She certainly makes me smile."

Jania giggled in response, blushing.

"That's sweet," Dinah smiled; "Well, does your group have room for three old grown-ups and one...slightly younger one?" she grinned and winked at Lucy.

"Oh sure!" Jania said, sliding down so the other three students could make more room for their adult friends.

Lucy, meanwhile, rolled her eyes at Dinah, "You three make it sound like I've just left Hogwarts."

"Shh, they're starting," Dinah grinned, ignoring Lucy's comment and turning out to the pitch where the Hufflepuff players were being announced.

"I hope we win," Jania said, "We've been training hard for this game, but we probably don't have a chance against Slytherin. We hardly ever win."

"Now, now," Dinah smiled at Jania and Lucy recalled the last time she had seen the two of them together, when they had been protecting her fox self from Septimus; "Don't think like that. You've got to have faith in your teammates. I bet you'll do very well this match." Severus snorted.

Sirius grinned, "Doesn't sound like Professor Snape agrees."

"He doesn't," Tad agreed quietly, "We'll win but that's because Professor Snape lets us cheat and Hufflepuffs don't even think of doing stuff like that."

"_For your information_, Mr. Smyth," Severus growled in a loud voice without looking at any of them; "my action was in reference to Professor Samson's idealism and had nothing to do with my prediction of the outcome of this game. And I no longer endorse cheating; you would do well to remember that."

"Yes, sir," Tad mumbled.

"Oh, now Severus be nice," Lucy half-teased, "Tad's a good student who has no need to cheat and…he's not entirely wrong. As you said though, that's in the past."

Severus only raised an eyebrow and kept his eyes on the game when the quaffle was released.

Dinah sighed and settled in next to her fiancé, her eyes on the game. After they had watched for a moment Lucy's friend suddenly said; "Do you really need to wear your outer robes on this warm day?" Turning, she saw that Dinah was eyeing Severus with a smile and a meaningful look, nodding her head at his bat-like garb.

Severus smirked; "I do not generally take them off for Quidditch games, only dueling and occasions that require formal attire."

"But it is... covering," she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Covering this?" he reached over and grabbed her hand, placing their clasped hands on the bench between them. Dinah smiled, pleasantly surprised, and nodded, leaning her head on his shoulder.

Lucy smiled at the pair, glad that they enjoyed simple things, like holding hands. She remembered a time when she and Sirius had barely touched at all. Dinah and Severus probably really did think they did nothing but snog and in truth that did take up a large part of their time now. However, back when they had first met they _had_ spent a lot of time talking and laughing together, things they still did. They just seemed to get caught not doing those things.

She sighed a little and turned back to the game.

Slytherin did manage to score more than Hufflepuff but the other team stayed within reach of winning. Lucy thought she may have spotted some not quite so honest moves made by the Slytherin team but there wasn't much point in saying anything since she wasn't sure. She and Jania received many disgruntled looks though when they jumped up after the Hufflepuff seeker clinched the snitch and thus the win.

"Ow," Dinah said, which seemed like a very odd thing to say until Lucy looked over at the other couple. Dinah was glaring pointedly at her fiancé with narrowed eyes, but he was instead ignoring her and glaring out at the game, his teeth gritted in fury as he growled at the pitch, his hands clenching into fists, including the one that was still holding Dinah's and consequently turning it a variety of interesting colors.

"Better watch your temper there," Sirius said, "Someone's libel to think you're upset."

"And Dinah's about to lose several fingers," Lucy added.

"Quiet!" he snapped, seeming not to hear their words; "I cannot concentrate with you all talking. We have now lost our chance at the Quidditch Cup. Infernal Hufflepuffs..."

"Severus!" Dinah demanded.

"What?" he snapped to attention, whirling his head around to glare at her.

She twitched her arm to make her point, pointing her free hand down at the area in question; "Do you mind?"

"Oh," he scowled, releasing her; "Sorry."

Mae giggled, "See Jania? I told you Professor Snape liked quidditch _and_ Professor Samson."

Severus sighed his annoyance at the comment, still glaring out at the pitch, and Dinah grinned and turned to Mae and Jania; "Yes, it's true. Although I fear Professor Snape is going to be in a pretty bad mood for the rest of the day. Lucky me, right? You should be glad I'm taking him off of your hands." In the background Severus was muttering something about 'people talking about me when I'm sitting right here...'

Mae giggled and Jania looked thoughtful for a moment before sighing and looking right into Dinah's eyes. "Professor Samson? Do you think, I know it's probably a long shot, but have you seen any fox that you think _might _be the same one we rescued? I know it'd be almost impossible to tell and lots of fox look alike but I've been keeping an eye out for it. I just hate to think we didn't get there in time…"

"Hmm," Dinah smiled as Severus continued to snarl at the celebrating Hufflepuff players, and Lucy wondered how her friend would answer; "Well, I didn't get as good a look at the fox as you did, Jania, but...well, I do love animals of all kinds as I'm sure you know, and I do think I've seen a fox that might be that one. Very bright orange, and I do believe she's found a mate." Dinah paused to consider, winking at Lucy as she asked Jania; "Did you know that foxes are actually a type of dog?"

Lucy turned to Sirius and smiled as her very empathetic student beamed at Dinah, "Yes! It was a more vibrant color then other ones I've seen! It must be the same one. The fox must be okay if it's found a partner, right? Actually," the girl blushed, "I always thought of fox as more cat-like, but if you say they're a type of dog they must be."

Dinah laughed; "I know what you mean, and I agree that fox are more catlike in nature. They're more solitary than most dog species, although they do live in family groups and most mate for life."

"They also have a habit of destroying things for their own morbid amusement," Severus added with a smirk, and Dinah just rolled her eyes before giving him a playful swat.

Lucy laughed at that, "It's simply their mischievous nature Severus. They don't mean any harm and I think, most times are simply curious. You wouldn't want them to act against their nature would you? Why that'd be like Dinah suddenly being grumpy and pessimistic. Simply unnatural." Sirius, she noted had moved to sit nearer the two Muggle-born Slytherins and discuss quidditch strategies with them.

Severus gave the grinning Dinah a considering look and then shrugged; "Well, that may be true but in that case it would be unnatural for me not to be irritated by it."

"A valid argument," Lucy confirmed, before turning to Jania, "Looks like your fellow Hufflepuffs are making their way out of here. You might want to go celebrate with them."

"Oh, yes! Thank you, Professors," the third year said, hopping down to where Tad sat, "I've got to go Tad. See you later! It was a good game!" she waved, rushing out of the stands.

"Your assessment was correct," Severus said to Dinah; "I am going to be in a bad mood all day. No doubt the Malfoys will hear of this loss and it will be a topic of conversation tomorrow evening."

"The Malfoys huh?" Sirius asked, turning back to them after the two boys and Mae had left the stands, "Say hello to Cissy for me. And do call her Cissy. It annoys her and she annoyed me enough the last time I saw her, less than she used to but she still managed it."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Be nice. Apparently they're trying to reform. How can you expect them to succeed if they're not given the chance?"

"Fine. You don't have to call her Cissy," Sirius assured Dinah, "but we are _not_ inviting them to the wedding."

Dinah looked nervous and nodded; "I don't think I_ could_ call her Cissy, not when I'm already worried about what they'll think of me. And I don't think Severus ever called her Cissy. Did you?" she turned and asked him.

He gave a brief shake of his head; "Bellatrix called her Cissy."

"So did Dromeda. It's more of a family name really."

"Oh, and what did they call you? Siri?" Lucy asked, grinning.

"Hush you," he said, pulling her down off her seat to the bench where he sat one row below her.

"Did they call you that?" Dinah teased, looking amused at his reaction.

"If only," Severus muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Merlin, no," Sirius insisted, hanging on tight to Lucy when she tried to get away. Not that she was going to go far. "Even if they did I'm not sure I'd share that information though."

Lucy looked up at him and sighed, "Alright Padfoot. I think it's time to go back up to the castle. Especially as we seem to be the only ones left in the stands."

"The castle?" he questioned.

"Yes, well, with these two going to visit your relations and Dumbledore gone….well Hogwarts doesn't really need to be down four professors this weekend and besides if we leave it gives our friends here a chance to explore our corner of the stands privately," Lucy said, with a teasing grin at Dinah.

Dinah flushed and grinned, pointing at Severus; "I don't think Mr. Bad Mood over here is going to oblige."

Lucy gave a dramatic sigh and shook her head, "Poor Dinah. Perhaps after our shopping trip. Which you," she said turning to Sirius, "are not going to reap the benefits of until after the wedding. Poor you," she said, making her most pathetic sad face.

"Then maybe we should move up the wedding," Sirius growled.

Again Lucy rolled her eyes, "It's not like I'm forcing you to remain celibate."

"Good," he said, kissing her jaw, "because otherwise I think I'd have exploded by now."

Dinah chuckled; "I hardly think you're deprived of seeing women's undergarments either, Sirius. A ripped orange pair springs to mind."

Lucy felt her face heat with embarrassment, "I'm never going to live that down am I?"

"It's not that bad," Dinah assured her with a smile; "I'm kind of used to you."

"Besides," Sirius said, "that's probably the least embarrassing thing Dinah's seen from you. When do the illustrious Malfoys expect you to arrive?" Sirius asked turning to Severus.

Severus, still wearing an agitated expression as he fumed inwardly over Slytherin's loss, responded shortly; "In the evening for dinner."

"Ah, dinner. A meal should help things go smoothly," Sirius nodded, apparently trying to be civil about his relations.

"Well," Lucy said, standing, "are we ready to head in? I, for one, have had enough of the outside and I'm ready to go back in and curl up with a book or two."

"Let's go in," Dinah agreed. "Though it's lovely outside, I should really work on analyzing my surveys some more," she glanced at Severus out of the corner of her eye as he scowled at her comment; "Though maybe I should hole myself up in my office to do so, so he doesn't have to watch."

Lucy chuckled, "That's probably a good idea." The foursome made their way out of the quidditch stands and back to the castle.


	71. Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Lucy was up far earlier than she would have liked to be, granted she _had_ woken up when Sirius left just before sunrise. Her tiny single bed was far too small for her not to have noticed when he crawled out of it. She'd have to rectify that at some point…before the wedding for sure.

She sighed, looking at the clock. It was probably too early to go bursting in on Dinah and Severus so she summoned breakfast. She was thrilled to see the meal was French toast. It was one of her favorite breakfasts and it seemed Dora's too since the cat kept sneaking up to her plate.

Time seemed to drag, probably because she was looking forward to this trip, but it was finally a decent hour to knock on someone's door. She pulled on her outer robes and made sure her hair was in place before exiting her rooms and traveling down to the dungeons.

Outside the door, she briefly considered turning into her fox before knocking.

"It's open!" Dinah yelled from inside.

"Hi!" Lucy said letting herself in. "Ready to go…shopping?" she trailed off, staring past Dinah to where Helga, Dinah's pet rat, sat on Severus's leg.

"Dinah," Severus growled at his fiancée, "Would you mind removing your rat from my leg?"

"Oh!" Dinah flushed, snatching her rat from his leg.

Lucy grinned, "I'm sure there's a euphemism in there somewhere but I'll let it slide this time. Oh," she frowned looking around at the newly redesigned dungeon rooms, "you've put in cupboards. That's going to make messing with your potions so much more difficult."

"That was the idea, troublemaker," Severus smirked. He'd been calling her that ever since the night she'd spent in the dungeons and rearranged his potions. She was beginning to think that it was his affectionate term for her.

"Well," Dinah offered a smile, "Actually it was more for Godric than for you, since for all I know your fox self is dexterous enough to open half of those doors." Severus snorted at her comment.

She giggled, "I'm not sure. We'll have to try it out sometime…when Severus isn't around. What's that?" Lucy asked, pointing at Dinah's lap compuer thing. The screen, rather like the screen on a telly, was showing an unmoving picture of some landscapes and some sort of home or building.

"I'm just looking for ideas for small inns to stay at on our honeymoon. What do you think?" Dinah said, turning it more towards Lucy so she could get a better look at the pictures.

"Oh, it's beautiful. Teaching is great but it makes it hard to plan trips whenever you want…but then you do get a lot of time off in the summer. I suppose if I want a nice long honeymoon I'll have to plan a summer wedding," Lucy frowned at the thought. She didn't _want_ a summer wedding but then she did kind of want at least a week long honeymoon…

"Or you could always postpone the honeymoon or have a second, bigger one at a later time," Dinah suggested.

"That's true," Lucy agreed, "But that looks lovely. You should go there. It should be fairly decent weather I'd think and not yet tourist season so it won't be crowded."

"Well, as long as we don't find a wizard alternative," Dinah teased, reaching out to hang on to an annoyed looking Severus's arm. "Granted, I don't see that it should matter. Nobody is going to be seeing us anyway so even if we perform a bit of magic what can it hurt? We're going to be given total privacy," she murmured in his ear.

He shifted and cleared his throat; "Don't you have shopping to do?"

"Mmm, yes," Lucy grinned, blushing a little at the picture Dinah had put in her head, "Though if you're not leaving the room perhaps there's not much of a point to this expedition."

"Excuse me?" Severus looked baffled.

"Well, it's mostly a lingerie store and if you're not leaving the room Dinah probably won't have the opportunity to _wear_ said lingerie."

Dinah laughed; "I put it on at the start and he takes it off. Plus I'm really looking for bridal lingerie – to go underneath the wedding dress."

"Ah, right. Well, first step is probably finding the dress itself so you, or we really since I'll be doing the same thing, know what type of lingerie will work under the dress. Don't want anything showing that shouldn't be," Lucy said, stepping away from the Muggle device of Dinah's.

"Well, let's go then. I'll just put this site in my favorites," she pushed some buttons on the computer and put the thing in her favorites, whatever that meant, then shut down the laptop and stood up, leaning over to plant a kiss on her fiancé's lips; "Don't forget to do what you need to do at lunch. You won't forget, will you?"

"Hardly," he smirked.

"Guess where he's going, Lucy? Severus, tell Lucy where you're going!"

"I highly doubt she cares. Ow," he added when she swatted him.

Dinah laughed; "It didn't hurt. Lucy," she said, turning to her friend, "he's going to get real dress robes. Not semi-dress robes, real ones, for the wedding, over lunch break!"

"Nice!" Lucy enthused, "Take Sirius with you. He'll need some new ones for the wedding too. I mean he has some and he'll tell you he doesn't need new but I'd like him to get another set that can be special, like my dress." She didn't honestly think Severus would willingly take Sirius shopping with him but she _did_ think her husband-to-be should have a special pair of robes similar to how she would be wearing a special dress.

Severus stared at her; "He can purchase his own clothes," he turned back to his parchment; "If you want him to come tell him yourself. I will be in Hogsmeade at noon."

Lucy rolled her eyes. Really didn't the man know when she was kidding around? Though, she was pleased he at least seemed to be entertaining the idea of Sirius coming along with him. "That's okay. I doubt he'd go even if I ordered him to. I'll have to drag him to the shop one day…or make Remus and Harry do it."

"If you must. Now, I have class in less than an hour and five more parchments to grade, do you both think you might leave now?"

"He's just cranky because I didn't let him finish his grading last night. You didn't have any complaints last night, though," Dinah teased him. His eyes remained firmly on his grading though as he waved them out.

Closing the door behind them, Lucy smiled, "Enjoyed being back at the school again?" She tried to be relatively discreet as they walked through the halls, needing to get off of Hogwarts grounds before they could apparate to London.

She chuckled; "Oh yes. We had to spend a pretty subdued night at the Malfoy's, but I made up for it last night. I can't imagine how people can live with house elves always under foot, watching every move they make in order to better 'serve' them. It clashes with my need for privacy."

Lucy shrugged, "I've never done it either. Living with house elves that is. I suppose technically Sirius does have one but Kreacher was happy to stay here and work and neither of us had a problem with it so Sirius set him free." She paused in her steps for a moment to yawn. Maybe she'd beg for some coffee later.

"Tired?" Dinah asked.

"Early morning," Lucy said, "I need a bigger bed. Coffee later would be good if you don't mind."

"We can stop somewhere when we get to Diagon Alley. Chat over a cup and come up with a game plan for the day. How's that?"

"Sounds good," Lucy agreed as they exited the gates of the school. "See you at the Leaky Cauldron?" She wanted to double check that they'd both apparate to the same place.

"That sounds good," Dinah agreed.

They both apparated away. When she reappeared the familiar sounds of the crowded tavern surrounded her.

"Ready?" Dinah asked.

"Yes. There's an empty table over there," she said, pointing to a corner near the stairs. "Why don't you go grab the table and I'll go order the drinks. You want coffee too or something else?"

"Coffee's fine, thanks. Lots of cream and sugar." Dinah said, wandering over to the table Lucy had pointed at.

Walking over to the bar, Lucy waited for Tom to come over.

"What can I get for ya?" the barman asked.

"Two coffees, plenty of cream and sugar please."

Tom shuffled away to get her order, glancing back as if he should recognize her. There wasn't any reason he should but who knew. Maybe he remembered her being in here over the Christmas holidays or something. "You the one that Black fellow was mooning over during the school break?"

Lucy blushed, smiling at the thought of Sirius sitting here waxing poetic about her. "Probably," she told the older man, "We're engaged so I'd better be."

"Good," he nodded, sliding the cups across the bar to her, "That boy needs someone to settle him down. Ran around way too much in his younger days. Always in here with different girls at least when he wasn't in here with that Potter kid and those other two."

"Well, he's only got one girl now and we're doing just fine," Lucy assured Tom before paying him and taking the drinks back to the table.

You know," Dinah said to Lucy, "Something has just occurred to me. People know me from the newspapers. If I buy a wedding dress and wedding lingerie here in Diagon Alley people are going to find out about the wedding."

"Oh," Lucy said, frowning. She hadn't thought of that. "Well, I can buy the lingerie. That's no problem. I've been in there plenty of times before and they get enough mail orders from me…Maybe a face recognition charm? Severus mentioned he used one when he went there…"

She sighed; "I guess I'll have to. But the wedding dress will be more difficult... I have a feeling if the press even got an idea about the wedding they'd try to invade it, you know?"

"Mmmhmm," Lucy said, sipping her coffee. Ah, bliss. She hadn't been much of a coffee drinker until she'd left Hogwarts and started Auror training. Since then it had become a staple, though not a necessity on most days. "You definitely don't want the press to get wind of it for sure. I _could_ try them on for you but that's not the same really. We could just say we're there for me and have you try some on for fun…but that doesn't help with the buying either…I suppose I could buy the dress too..."

"All of that seems like too much effort," Dinah frowned, wrapping her hands around her cup before she brought it to her lips. After taking a drink she sighed; "Buying a wedding dress using a facial recognition charm won't be any fun. I did bring some Muggle money, so we could try some of those stores, but I wanted to look here first. I guess we can start by looking and then see what happens. At the very least, I can remove the facial recognition charm in the dressing room."

Lucy sighed; Dinah was right none of those options sounded like fun, but she couldn't think of any other options. "If we'd had the time and foresight we could have polyjuiced you into someone…though that wouldn't really help either. I'm sorry. This is turning out to be more complicated than I envisioned when I made the offer."

She shook head, "It's not your fault. Let's just take it one step at a time," they finished their coffee in silence.

Placing her empty cup in front of her, Dinah's eyes wandered around the room, "Is this your first time here since they redecorated? Probably not..."

"Sort of," Lucy said, thinking back to Christmas, the time before she'd been engaged. "We were here once, towards the end of the remodel. Sirius came here some, while I was occupied with Teddy and the rest of my crazy family," she said, smiling affectionately. "When I was at the bar Tom asked if I was 'the girl that Black fellow was mooning over' during the winter."

Dinah chuckled; "That's cute. It's nice to know how much our men think of us sometimes, isn't it? Last time I was here was at Christmas with Severus. First time I saw him after our time at Grimmauld Place. You remember how our relationship started to blossom right around then? Well, when I met him here he greeted me with more affection than he'd ever shown. And then during our lunch he flat out told me that he had wanted to see me. At the time it was so shocking I lost the ability to speak for a few moments."

"Aww," Lucy cooed. "It's funny to think…I was so messed up back then and he still wanted me. I've never thought, never even considered that he was with me because he felt sorry for me or anything. He just…wanted me."

"Aww," Dinah returned Lucy's sentiment; "And of course he wanted you – see, you weren't so messed up that you didn't believe it! You knew. It's nice, that trust, isn't it? That sense of being wanted. Even when Severus told me he'd never be able to love me he said... he needed me. That was enough for me to commit to stay by his side no matter what happened. Though I think I sensed even then that someday it would work out for us. Can you believe it's only been a year? And we're both on stable ground again."

Lucy smiled and shook her head, "No, I really can't. Though I think I'll reserve judgment on the stable ground issue. I thought we were on stable ground last year and look how that turned out. Anyway," she said, pushing her mug away from her, "you ready to venture forth?"

"Sure," Dinah agreed, standing.

She copied her friend's action and headed out the back entrance and into Diagon Alley. "I paid up at the bar so there's no need to worry about that," she assured Dinah, "Oh! A flower shop. We should stop there later. I need ideas. There's also a bakery down the way a bit if you want to change your mind about me making the cake. I should probably make an appointment for me and Sirius to drop in…"

Dinah laughed, "A flower shop sounds good. I need a bouquet, after we get the other pieces of course so we know it matches. And I still want_ you_ to make my cake. Although I did entertain the possibility of stealing the Malfoy's house elf for a brief moment."

Lucy shook her head and clucked her tongue, "Hermione wouldn't stand for that. Oh," she said, staring at the display in Flourish and Blotts' window as they passed, "looks like that new book's finally out. It's part of a series I've been reading, maybe…no. We're here for underwear guaranteed to drive our boys wild, not books."

Dinah sighed, throwing her a teasing smile and wagging a scolding finger; "Maybe at the end of the day, _if_ we have time."

She rolled her eyes and giggled, "Yes, Mum. Ah, here we are," she said, stopping and pulling open the door for Dinah to enter ahead of her.

Dinah stepped in to a room filled with wedding dresses. She looked a little in awe of it, though Lucy couldn't blame her. It was both an awe-inspiring and terrifying thing to step into this portion of the shop. The dresses represented so much. Happiness and joy but also a major change in one's life. Lucy couldn't wait.

"Hello, can I help…you?" the clerk trailed off as she came up to them and stared at Dinah's face, "You! You're that woman in the paper! The one who can talk to snakes."

Dinah's cheeks turned a bright red. She'd forgotten the face recognition charm. "I, um…no, well...yes, but..."

"You're going to marry Professor Snape!" the woman looked positively thrilled.

"No!" Dinah denied, turning even redder and shaking her head. Lucy once again took up her nervous habit and started chewing on her lip. "I mean, Professor Ketteridge, my friend here, she's getting married, not me."

The woman chuckled and shook her head; "I don't think so. You were positively glowing as you looked at our dresses. No, I think you are the one who is getting married. But don't worry, I won't tell anybody if you don't want me to."

Lucy jumped in, trying to save Dinah, "No, really I am getting married. See?" she said, flashing her emerald ring at the lady, "To Sirius Black."

The woman's face began to reflect Dinah's, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to imply you weren't also getting married, but I've worked here awhile now and it's impossible not to recognize the look on Professor Samson's face."

"Please don't tell..." Dinah murmured, twiddling her fingers, "If the press were to get a hold of this information...our quiet wedding..."

"Oh, please don't worry," she insisted; "I am most definitely not here to ruin people's weddings. If it is a quiet wedding you want then a quiet wedding you shall have. Please don't hesitate to look around at the dresses. Both of you, of course," she added as a quick afterthought, nodding to Lucy. "And if you need anything at all I'm happy to help. My name is Irene if you have any questions."

"Well," Lucy said, grinning at Dinah, "I guess that takes care of that. Where would you like to start? I was thinking something with some sort of strap…"

"That sounds fine to me. You can lead the way. I don't really know what I'm thinking yet. There's just too much here," she looked out at all the choices laid out before then and sighed; "That's the nice thing about wizard shops. There's usually only one shopkeeper and they are always so...personable."

Lucy grinned at her friend, "I suppose, but I don't really have much to compare them to." She led them over to the racks. She started looking through the different designs and pulled out a beautiful chiffon confection with cap sleeves. "Oh, look at this," she breathed, "What do you think? Should I try it on? Do _you_ want to try it on?" Up until now she hadn't been looking forward to doing all the wedding stuff but she was starting to get excited.

Dinah smiled and fingered the dress, "It's lovely. You should try it on first, since you found it. What do you think about the ones with silver and gold accents? I'm feeling partial to all white myself but the accents are so... sparkly they become tempting." She laughed; "I think I'm really starting to have a thing for sparkly."

She considered the dress Dinah indicated, "It's gorgeous. You should try it on. It'll go great with your skin tone I think. Sparkle's good. Some can go overboard," she said, pointing to one that looked like it was encrusted with all sorts of sparkly things, "but yours looks nice."

"It's not mine yet," Dinah smiled, taking a closer look at the dress. The sparkles where heavier on the bodice then trickled down over the skirt. "But it is beautiful. Okay, let's try these on, if you want. We have to start somewhere after all."

"Yes, we do," Lucy lifted the dress off the rail, holding it carefully in her arms and walking with Dinah towards the dressing rooms, "Meet you back out here in two minutes?" There were a couple mirrors just outside the rooms so they could view more of the dress than they'd be able to in the small one inside the changing room.

"Approximately," she smiled, darting into a dressing room.

Lucy ducked into her own room. She whipped off her robes and pulled on the dress, using her wand to carefully fasten the lace up closer on the back. She stared at herself in the mirror. It was…not the right dress, but still the sensation of looking at herself in a wedding dress was very surreal. She probably should have rethought the bright blue underwear she put on this morning.

She could almost watch the tears starting to form in her eyes. She felt a little silly; it had, after all, been nearly twenty years, but her mother should be there. She should have been a part of this moment. She sniffed and used her normal robes to wipe her eyes. Lucy didn't want to keep want to keep Dinah waiting so long that she came after her. Her friend thought she was emotional enough as it was.

She edged open the door to see Dinah standing there in the robes she'd been wearing when they'd entered the shop. "Oh," she said, disappointed, "You're not wearing it."

Dinah sighed, holding her rejected dress and offered her a guilty look, "It hangs funny." She cleared her throat and shrugged.

Lucy giggled a little. Girls could be so fussy about things like that, herself included. "That's fine. This one's still nice I think but it's apparently see-through. It's just…not right. I wanted a white white dress but looking at it now…I don't know it washes me out or something. Maybe an ivory or off-white would be better."

"Oooh, that would be pretty with your red hair," Dinah agreed; "I actually think the dress is lovely, except of course for that whole see-through issue. Maybe we'll have better luck on the next round."

They tried on several more dresses, none of them right and none of the ones Dinah tried on were seen by Lucy. In desperation she went over to Irene, the saleswoman, and pleaded for her help. "Do you think you might be able to help us? There are so many choices and this is the first we've looked at dresses. Everything we pick out seems to be wrong. Dinah hasn't even come out _in_ a dress."

"Oh, of course, of course. Let's go see if we can get Professor Samson to come out of the dressing room."

They walked back to the dressing room where Dinah was still ensconced inside. "Dinah?" Lucy said, "Irene's going to help us find some dresses."

"Okay, that sounds good," Dinah responded, walking out of the dressing room carrying her latest rejection over her arm.

"Well," Irene started, "I usually ask when and where you're planning on having the wedding. That can help with choosing a style. Is there anything in particular you_ don't_ want?"

"We don't have specific date set," Lucy answered, "but we're leaning towards winter. I thought I wanted a dress with straps but every one I've tried on hasn't looked right on me. Let's worry about Dinah first though."

"So," Irene said, turning to Dinah, "was there anything particular about this dress you didn't like?"

"Oh, I don't know," Dinah sighed and shook her head; "It just isn't 'right'. I want something that's 'right'. I'm marrying Severus. I want it to fit him, us to fit together, to 'match' somehow. Maybe I should look at more simple styles," she finally concluded, thoughtfully; "It was sort of what my initial idea was but once I got in here and saw all of these fancy ones I got caught up in the moment I guess."

Irene smiled, "That can sometimes happen yes. Let's see," she murmured, leading them over to another section of the store, "Were you thinking strapless, sleeves, long, short, lace, no lace…?"

Lucy's head was starting to spin with all the options Irene was asking about. She wasn't sure how Dinah was going to be able to choose.

"Um," Dinah was looking as overwhelmed as Lucy felt; "I don't know. Maybe sleeves. The strapless ones have all felt like they were hanging wrong... We're going to be outdoors for the wedding..."

"Hmmm, well okay," she seemed to just know where the dresses she wanted where hanging and grabbed three dresses, "Here try these. Now you," she said, sizing up Lucy and going back to the rack, again pulling three dresses, "you should try these. An off-white or ivory would look best on you and I think you might like some of these lace dresses. You've got a bit more variety since you're not sure when or where you're having the wedding. Now go try them on and we'll go from there."

Lucy hurried back into her dressing room, feeling a little chastised by Irene for not having made such fashion-altering decisions as when and where she was going to be married. The first dress wasn't bad. Unfortunately it was made entirely of lace and wasn't lined so it was mostly see through. She absolutely refused to exit her dressing room like that. She might consider wearing it, or something similar, as a negligee but _not_ as the dress she got married in.

This second dress though, _this_ was something she could show Dinah. The skirt had a lace overlay and the entire thing was a beautiful creamy color. It was long sleeved and perfect for a winter wedding. Her only issue with it was the fur gathered around her neck. It felt very reminiscent of a turtleneck. Hopefully that could be easily dealt with though. She edged open her dressing room door once more and poked her head into the opening. "Ready?" she asked, not able to see if Dinah was out there or not from her position.

"Okay," her friend called back.

Lucy closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and stepped out of the room. Dinah looked…incredible. Her dress was pure white with buttons down the front and more conservative than the others she'd tried on but it was very much her. "Oh, Dinah," Lucy breathed, "I think you should get that one. Don't even bother with the others."

"Yeah, that's sort of what I was thinking," Dinah nodded, blushing.

"You both look very beautiful," Irene assured them. "Your fiancés will have a hard time waiting until you get back to your rooms before taking those off you."

Lucy blushed a little, thinking that was usually the case with Sirius so it really wouldn't be anything new. "I don't know," she said, fingering the collar. She loved the dress but there was just something about it…

"Hold on," Irene said, disappearing for a minute. "Squat down a bit," she said from behind Lucy. She fastened a veil into Lucy's hair, arranging it so that it fell over her shoulders, framing her face.

"Oh," Lucy said, staring at herself in the mirror.

She saw Irene glance over at Dinah in the reflection of the mirror, "Adding the veil usually does it."

"Lucy, you look beautiful. It's very wintry, I think. That's what you wanted, right?" Dinah smiled.

"Yes," Lucy whispered, not wanting to break the spell, "Exactly what I wanted. I don't even care about the collar. The only thing is," she said, turning to look over her shoulder at the two women, "I can't do this without Aunt Molly. I don't think she'd be upset, but I want her here…and Mum," she said, turning back to the mirror and wiping at her suddenly tear-filled eyes.

"Lucy," Dinah murmured, putting her hands on her Lucy's shoulders, "It's okay. Nobody's forcing you to buy anything right now." She smiled at their reflections, "You just came to look with me, right? And you got to look. Next step is to come back here with your Aunt and look again. And I'm sure your Mum is still with you somehow."

Lucy smiled, though it looked a bit watery to her, "Right. She will be. I, thankfully, take after Mum in looks and not my father."

Dinah laughed; "Well, I've never seen your father so I don't know how to judge that one. I'm guessing he's not a redhead, though."

She joined in Dinah's laughter, shaking her head, "No, he's not. Would you believe me if I told you he actually has dark hair? Everyone was convinced my hair was going to turn darker when I was young. It didn't. It just got…redder."

"I believe you," Dinah grinned. "And the red suits you, so I guess you were just lucky." She turned her grin to Irene; "Any veils for me or is Lucy the only person who gets to try one?"

"Oh, we've got some for you too. Your friend just looked like she needed some convincing, while you were already in love with yours."

"It's true..." Dinah smiled, turning to her reflection and fingering the buttons again.

Irene left the room again, heading for the veil displays. Lucy turned to watch Dinah stare at herself in the mirror. "I'll be right back," she told her friend, "I should get out of this…" She turned back to the mirror for a moment, savoring the sight of herself standing there in a real wedding dress before darting away to redress.

When she emerged from the dressing room, she was greeted by the sight of Dinah staring at her reflection, complete with veil.

Irene stood to the side looking proud of herself and asked Dinah, "Well, what do you think?"

Dinah's eyes jumped to Lucy's in the mirror, "I think this is what I want. What do you think, Lucy?"

"I think," she said, reaching back to adjust her ponytail, "that Severus is going to be dumbstruck."

"Well, I guess I should pay for these then. Though I hate to take them off..."

Lucy grinned, "I can imagine, but just think now we get to go try on some fancy knickers. At the very least I have an orange pair that needs replacing. Oh, and maybe I can get your opinion on a couple things. I keep staring at them in the catalogs and I'm just not sure…"

Dinah nodded, slowly returning to the dressing room. Lucy smiled, she knew her friend didn't want to take off the dress quite yet and in truth she could understand why, but it had to come off sooner or later.


	72. Chapter 72

Chapter 72

The other woman came out of the dressing room and walked over to Irene to make her purchase. The clerk smiled at the pair of them and waved her wand, the dress and veil packing themselves away. "Here you are," she said, handing the packages over to Dinah as she paid. "Congratulations. I don't know Professor Snape but from hearsay but it strikes me that he needs a good woman in his life. I hope you two are very happy."

"Oh, I'm sure they will be," Lucy winked. "You want me to take those? Hide them in my rooms?" she asked Dinah as they walked out of the store. She wasn't sure how superstitious her friend was but if it was her she wouldn't want Sirius seeing the dress, however accidental it might be.

Dinah smiled; "Sure. I doubt Severus would just unwrap them without my consent but better safe than sorry, right?" she placed the package into Lucy's arms.

Lucy giggled, "Yeah, but then I'm used to dealing with Sirius. He's like a big kid sometimes. Of course he claims that of the two of us I'm the more likely to peek." With out warning Lucy gasped, stopped in the middle of the street and turned to Dinah. "A hen party! Are you having one? Do you _want _one? Maybe your Muggle friend is planning one. Rosa, right?"

Dinah blushed and laughed a little, probably at Lucy's antics. "Really, and here I keep thinking I've thought of all the necessary details but I keep being proven wrong. That sounds fun, but I didn't talk about it with my family or with Rosa or anyone... though Aunt Mildred is probably already complaining about the apparent lack of one. Maybe getting married this fast was a bit much, even if it is going to be a small wedding. Oh!" she gasped, "We have to make sure I have something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue! And I think I'm supposed to put a penny in my left shoe or something, I can't remember..."

"Well, I'm sure we can work something out. You and I could get together Wednesday night, Rosa too if you wanted. As for the other thing, we've already got your something new. Blue could be whatever we buy in the next store…a garter perhaps. I'm sure you could borrow something of mine and I'm not really sure what a penny is…" She considered letting Dinah borrow her mother's wedding tiara that she'd had in her possession since her birthday but she wasn't sure how she felt about it. It shouldn't be a big deal really but…it kind of was.

"Okay," Dinah nodded; "That sounds reasonable, I think. My plan was for the whole group to drive up to a little spot nearby Hogwarts on Thursday morning and Severus and I were going to walk over there and lead them to Hogwarts. My parents are bringing my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin with them and they are a ... handful. But maybe I could invite Rosa up the night before. But there's still Luke to consider. Maybe just you and I on Wednesday night. I shouldn't try to make this more complicated. It is supposed to be a very simple wedding."

"All right. I'll just have to kick the boy out for the night. I'll make up for it later though," she said, blushing as the many ideas of just how she could make it up to Sirius floated through her mind.

"Let's go into the flower shop first!" Dinah said, dragging her over to the shop as they passed it by; "Severus needs one for his dress robes whether he likes it or not and I need a bouquet and potentially flowers for the veil. Flowers or a tiara. What do you think would look better?"

Lucy tilted her head considering Dinah, "Well, flowers might look nice. I have my mother's tiara so…I suppose we should see what they have and go from there."

She nodded and started for the store before stopping, and casting a facial recognition charm on herself. She turned to Lucy; "How's that?"

Lucy stared at her formerly familiar friend. In her place stood a woman with darker hair, though it was only barely brown, a plumper face and an elongated nose. "Not bad. I don't think I'd recognize you if I passed you on the street."

"Good! Now let's go!" she marched into the flower shop with Lucy right behind her. "I think some kind of white flowers would be good."

She took a moment to breath in the myriad scents. "It smells heavenly in here. White flowers would be nice. I think I want some white and some soft colors mixed in." She turned to Dinah, a playful smile on her face, "What do you think about me having dogwood and foxglove in my bouquet? It's an idea I've been bouncing around."

"Oh, that is so cute!" Dinah clapped her hands together apparently able to keep herself from squealing now that she was an adult again; "And dogwood flowers are beautiful... oh, but um... can't foxglove kill you?" she frowned.

Lucy frowned. She'd forgotten about that. "Yeah, I forgot…shoot. Well, I suppose I've still got time to figure something out…"

"There might be a magic spell or something to fix it. I don't know much about the properties of poisonous plants but I'm _sure_ Severus does. I can ask him for advice for you. The idea is just much too cute to give up without a fight," she smiled.

"Would you? That'd be so great!" Lucy enthused, "He'll take it better coming from you too. Not that I think he hates me," she hastened to add, "I think I'm just a little much for him to take at times."

"Well, I won't argue with you there," Dinah gave her a crooked smile, revealing she now apparently had a gold tooth. Together they wandered the store, occasionally sniffing some of the flowers on display, before coming across a section of sample bouquets. "Look, they already have an area set aside with sample wedding bouquets. Oh, look at this one! White ranunculus and grape hyacinths. It makes it just a little bit blue," she fingered the delicate flowers; "I like it."

"It's so pretty! And it can be your something blue, though I still think you should get a garter," Lucy said. She was considering wearing a couple garters. One for tossing and the other for…well just for show.

"I'll get one, though I don't think we'll go through the whole thing after the ceremony. It will be more for... Severus's enjoyment," she flushed.

Lucy giggled, "I know what that face means," she said before covering her mouth, eyes wide with shock. "Oh no, he's rubbing off on me."

"Who?" Dinah blinked, obviously confused.

"Sirius," Lucy mumbled through her hands, "He's always saying things like that. I know what flannel pajamas mean. I know what turtlenecks mean and the like."

Dinah laughed; "They do rub off on us. I've been told by various people that my scowls and raised eyebrows are starting to match Severus's. Slughorn actually jumped ahead of both Severus and I and guessed that we'd be getting married before we decided on it – although we both sort of had it in the backs of our minds as a distant 'someday'. For as distracted as Slughorn is he can be quite intuitive from time to time."

Lucy nodded, slowly lowering her hands, "He can be. Actually, he's been telling me some rather interesting stories about the Black family, Regulus in particular. Sirius won't talk about him. Won't talk about any of them really, with the exception of Tonks and her mother. Incidentally the Malfoys will be the only members of the family not invited to the wedding. I don't know how I feel about that. I mean I've never met them and I'm guessing they've no desire to meet me or see Sirius but still…they are family."

"Mm," Dinah nodded; "I asked Severus if he wanted to invite them to ours but he gave a very firm and definite 'no'. Though I think they're shaping up to be 'family friends' of ours, slowly."

"That's nice. Perhaps at some point in the distant future we can make a go of bridging the gap with them. Though I doubt we'd ever be friends really," she looked up to see a cheerful-looking, plump, blonde woman watching them look over the flowers, "Perhaps you should ask her for help."

"Oh, yes, and I think I know what I want too. You see," she pointed, showing Lucy the sample bouquet she'd been talking about earlier, "If I take this bouquet I noted and trim the outside with these Queen Anne's lace that adds some greenery – green for Slytherin with the yellow in the center of the ranunculus for Hufflepuff! And I can trim the veil in ranunculus and Queen Anne's lace, and Severus can have a similar thing on his dress robes, and I can put lace around the bouquet and tie the stems with a blue ribbon!"

"You're decisive all of a sudden," Lucy teased, "In the last store you couldn't have made a decision to save your life. It sounds perfect though," she said, being serious again, "It's exactly what you should have."

Dinah giggled; "I know, I don't know what's with me today. Maybe it's that now that I have the dress the rest comes easily. Okay, I'll go tell that woman what I want." Dinah had her order made up and paid for in a short amount of time. They added the flowers to the boxes they were already carrying and headed straight into the lingerie store.

Lucy headed straight to the section containing replicas of her ruined orange lace knickers. "Wonderful! They still stock these. I should probably get a couple pair."

"Perhaps," Dinah chuckled, her eyes roving over the store's stock. She eventually made her way into the bridal section while Lucy hurried to grab a couple of the items she'd mentioned to Dinah earlier.

"Find anything?" she asked, fingering a beautiful white corset with attached garter belt and garters. Perhaps she'd come back to check out the selection once she had a wedding dress picked out.

"This," Dinah indicated it with a finger.

She looked at the ensemble Dinah had pointed to, baby doll negligee, bra, knickers, and a garter, all in white with some silver trimmings. "Nice! And it comes with a garter. Want to try it on? Or well parts of it anyway. I was going to try on some of these," she said, pointing to her pile, "and see what you think, if that's okay?"

"Sure," Dinah agreed, grabbing the ensemble and following Lucy over to the dressing rooms. "How are things going over there, Lucy?" came from over the dressing room wall after a few moments.

"Good," Lucy called back. "I'm ready if you are," she said, glancing at the deep red bra she was wearing. The cups were made of lace but the more substantial parts of the lace covered up any areas Dinah didn't need to see. The red was accented with bits of gold material here and there. She picked up the knickers so she could show them to Dinah but she was not trying them on in front of her friend. They were nothing more then a triangle of lace at the front and a couple of thin red/gold ropes around the waist and down the back. These were definitely not a practical and serviceable pair of knickers.

"Coming," Dinah called, stepping out of the room while Lucy did the same. She eyed Lucy for a minute before saying anything. "I love the color," Dinah complimented. "It's a very pretty set."

Lucy grinned, "Thanks. They have green and silver ones too. Along with blue and bronze and yellow and black. I think once Severus gets you out of that dress he's going to destroy those pretty things you're wearing. What do we think of these?" she asked, holding up the knickers for viewing. "I don't think they're going to last long but they're just so…naughty."

"Well, Sirius will certainly think so," Dinah winked; "I suggest you cast a charm on them beforehand preventing their destruction. Mess with him a little," she teased.

She laughed, liking Dinah's suggestion, "Good idea. I like the rope details." She turned back to Dinah's ensemble, not wanting her friend to think she was only interested in her own things, "The silver is strategically placed so you're still covered and yet…you're not."

Dinah grinned; "It works well that way, I think. You know, maybe I'll go and grab the green and silver of that set. I think Severus would enjoy me in Slytherin garb."

"Exactly why I've got it in the red and gold. They do have other styles of knickers. I just…no. I'm going to keep my mouth shut and not over-share this time," she said, blushing and thinking about another, larger, silky rope hidden in her room.

"Fine with me," she raised an eyebrow; "Let's go make our purchases, if you're done."

"Sure. Just let me go change back and we can be on our way and give me one of your sets. I promised to buy you some for your birthday."

"Okay," Dinah smiled; "Thanks. After this I'd like to get some lunch and then maybe go to a jewelry store and a shoe store. Then I think that'll take care of most of it. Unless something else comes to mind that I'm forgetting. Since I seem to be doing that a lot lately," she blushed.

Lucy laughed, "I'm sure I'll be doing the same thing when it's my turn. I already have my shoes though, a gorgeous blue pair. They'll be my something blue."

She grabbed the green and silver set Dinah had picked up and headed to a sales girl far away from the one her friend had gone to. Lucy had been to the store enough that she knew they had…special items behind the counter not normally on display. "Can I get a pair of the kiwi knickers but put them separate from the green set. They're a gift for a friend's hen party. I'll take two of the apple and one papaya for myself please."

The sales girl just smiled as she grabbed the requested items, "Of course Miss Ketteridge. How's Mr. Black?"

Lucy blushed; clearly she'd been in this store way too much lately. "Oh, he knows I'm coming here so I'm sure he's both very excited and incredibly frustrated."

Behind the counter the girl giggled. "Well, you're all set," she said, handing the packages to Lucy after she paid, "I hope your friend enjoys her gift."

"I'm sure she will," Lucy grinned walking back to the entrance of the store where Dinah was waiting for her. "And there goes this week's pay. It's going to be _so_ worth it though," she said, handing Dinah the box with her things in it.

"Oh yes, very much worth it," Dinah smiled as she ran her fingers along the top of the box. "Shoe store now?"

"Yes!" Lucy enthused, "I'll have to restrain myself from buying anything, but that's okay. Sirius has told me to go ahead and use his vault before but I don't feel right about doing that yet. Besides this way I'm sure not to go overboard."

Dinah nodded; "I'm going overboard, but it's my wedding. I'm allowed," she grinned.

"Of course you are," Lucy affirmed and followed her friend to the next store on their list.


	73. Chapter 73

Chapter 73

Wednesday evening Lucy found herself laughing at the rather whiny letter she'd received from Sirius yesterday. Poor boy. He made it sound as if he was so very deprived. She had, however, contritely sent him a response assuring him that he could come Thursday morning and stay through the weekend. She did not inform him of the "snacks" she'd bought though.

She smiled to herself as she wrapped up the kiwi ones she'd secretly bought for Dinah. Well, actually they were probably more for Severus but she didn't want to think about that too much. She thought the bright green color was very cheerful and different from the darker green of Slytherins colors. Hopefully kiwi was an acceptable flavor to Severus.

Setting the artfully wrapped present on the table, Lucy went back into the kitchen to check on the cake. It was nearly done and she waved her wand at it, giving it a last few finishing touches. When the last few flowers bloomed on the cake, surrounding the bride and groom she'd placed on the top, she hid the cake in her cool box, similar to that friderator thing in Dinah's Muggle kitchen.

She was ready for Dinah to arrive any moment now. Lucy hoped this was a fun night. She'd never hosted or even been to a hen party so she wasn't really sure what she was doing. She had snacks set out and a few of her more…instructive romance novels, but other than that she didn't really _have_ anything that would be appropriate for a hen party. No dirty magazines or kinky party games.

She popped up off the couch when the knock sounded on her door. It had better be Dinah on the other side and not a whiny Sirius. She opened the door and poked her head around the opening, "Dinah! Happy last day as a single woman. Come on in," she said, pulling the door open wide and stepping back.

"You were expecting somebody else?" Dinah asked grinning.

She laughed, "Not really. I did get a rather whiny letter from Sirius when I told him what was going on but I didn't honestly think he'd show up. Okay maybe a part of me did, but only a little part." She led them to the couch, picking up her demurely wrapped present on the way. "I'm afraid I've never been to a hen party so I didn't really know what to do. I've got snacks; I pulled out some of my romance novels and I've got some exploding snaps if you want to play that. I'm up for whatever you want really. Oh, and here!" she held out the gift to her almost-married friend.

"Thanks," Dinah smiled and took it. "You didn't have to get me anything."

Lucy shrugged, a little embarrassed, "It's nothing really. Open it!" She was practically bouncing with excitement about how Dinah would react to this gift.

"Okay," she looked back down at the gift and carefully unwrapped it; "Wow, they're cute. A little brighter green for Mr. Slytherin to enjoy?" she grinned.

Giggling, Lucy nodded, "Yeah, one of many things he can enjoy about those. I hope he likes kiwi."

"Kiwi?" Dinah questioned, blinking, looking shocked when it finally dawned on her what the knickers were; "They're edible!"

"Of course! The store keeps them behind the counter. That's why I had to go so far away when we checked out. Papaya's a particular favorite of mine. Kiwi's nice too though and I thought Severus would appreciate the green."

"I'm sure..." she smiled, leaning over to give the gift a sniff; "Ooh, that is a pretty strong kiwi scent," she flushed.

Lucy grinned, waving a wand and summoning over her three pairs, "Some of them can have a strong smell. These don't smell as much. Two apple and a papaya. They have all sorts of flavors though. Grape's been nixed. It smells and tastes really sweet." Her face mirrored Dinah's blush when she thought of the night the grape had been introduced. A couple bites and the knickers had been quickly discarded, not to be touched again.

Dinah giggled; "Would I sound horrible if I said all these fruity smells were making me hungry? I notice you have snacks."

Lucy shook her head, "No, not horrible just normal. You're welcome to whatever you want. Go through the cupboards if you feel the need. Just stay out of the cool box unless you want to ruin the surprise of your cake."

"Oh, it's finished?" Dinah flushed with pleasure as she grabbed a handful of mixed nuts; "I can't wait to see it. I let you go totally from scratch as to the design and such. It's so exciting. Oh, and thank you _so_ much for agreeing to take pictures for me on such short notice!" She thanked her for about the millionth time as her eyes flicked to the camera Lucy had sat on the counter in the kitchen.

"You're welcome! Drinks!" she said a touch too loudly, "I forgot about drinks, though we probably don't want to drink ourselves into oblivion anyway. We can go out if you want but I figured a low-key evening was probably more what you'd want…" She glanced over at her pile of books, wincing when one of the men ripped off the woman's top and proceeded to place his mouth against the areas he'd uncovered.

"I must confess I don't usually read straight-up romance novels. I was unaware that the wizard ones did things like this. No wonder Severus was so traumatized that day in the library." Dinah said, chuckling.

"Yeah. That was…amusing. These are the more graphic ones though. Most of them aren't so…obvious. Probably in case any kids wander into that section. So," Lucy said, feeling awkward and drumming her fingers on her thigh, "have you ever been to one of these before? Is there something we should be doing?"

"I've been to plenty, most recently my best friend Rosa's last year. As old as I am, most of my Muggle friends have already gotten married."

"Oh, so now we're going to make cracks about your age?" Lucy teased, "Usually I'm the one being teased. Tonks didn't have one of these when she got married. With the threat of You—Voldemort hanging about and the anti-werewolf legislation at the time…it just wouldn't have been a good idea."

"Mm, I understand. Nice for saying the name, by the way," Dinah praised her; "Granted, I prefer to call him Tommy now."

Lucy nodded, "That makes sense. It's hard to reconcile the boy with the man though." She grabbed an apple off the table and took a few bites before asking, "Are you nervous? I think I'd be nervous. I…feel like I come off as more self-confident than I am. I'm getting better about that. Twenty-two year old Lucy was pretty cocky at times," she giggled a little before continuing her babbling, "Sometime you should ask Severus about the time in March, I think it was, that he came to Grimmauld Place late at night and discovered it wasn't just snogging Sirius was doing with me. We laughed because there wasn't really anything else to do. We were lucky he didn't wake the whole house yelling at us like that."

Dinah laughed; "I'll make a note to bring that up one of these days. I _am_ a _little_ nervous," she admitted; "Not about Severus, more about... is everything going to turn out the way it's supposed to and stuff. It's supposed to be such a small, simple wedding, but I'm still all worried about details. And it shouldn't really even be about the wedding so much as the marriage, but it's like... am I forgetting something, what if I trip and fall into the cake, what if my aunt does something... what if she goes overboard," Dinah nibbled nervously on a cauldron cake.

"Well, if you fall into the cake I can fix that easily with a bit of magic. Aunt Mildred right? The one who steals? We'll just keep a close eye on her," Lucy offered, trying to calm her friend's nerves.

"She doesn't steal," Dinah giggled, "And yes, any extra eyes on her will help. Just a warning I might shove her on you and Sirius from time to time if she gets overbearing. She'll probably talk your ears off because you're engaged to be married."

"But I like my ears," Lucy said, feigning horror at the thought and clutching at the sides of her head.

Dinah burst out laughing. "Oh, you know what I mean! About the drinks... maybe we could order some wine or something up from the kitchens. This_ is_ Hogwarts you know."

Joining in the laughter, Lucy nodded, "Right. Well, before I order something up why don't I go put these away and change into some pajamas?" She held up her edible knickers from earlier.

"Okay. Me too?" she asked.

"Sure," Lucy said, glad her friend was staying the night. "Or do you want to try your dress on first; make sure everything's all right? Oh! We can order up the wine and figure out what to do with your hair!"

"Fun! I had some ideas but it'll be good to see what you think of them."

"So," Lucy said, after the wine had been ordered and they were both in their nightclothes, "what would you like to do now? This is my first hen party and you've been to many so I'll bow to your expertise."

"Ohh, I don't know," Dinah chirped, swirling her wine in her glass. She grinned; "Generally at these things you act like giggly girls and talk about all your old flames and other men that you find attractive. Probably to distract you from the fact that you aren't having sex with your fiancé that night, really," she chuckled at the realization.

Lucy snorted, "I can imagine. Well, I think you mentioned one serious boyfriend, Dylan. Tell me about him. Did you think he was…handsome?" She took a sip of her own wine hoping it would cool her hormones that were not being satisfied right now.

Dinah giggled, sipping some more wine; "Oh, he was most definitely handsome, although terribly generic I think now. So kind of average. How about Gawain and Nick? They looked pretty generic to me when I saw them. Though I guess Gawain has a rather illustrious job."

Lucy smirked and closed her eyes for a moment, "Nick hasn't aged well. He was actually quite good looking back in the day. I was never…this seems so horrible to say, but I was never physically attracted to Gawain. I mean I don't think he's ugly, but he never managed to…hit the right spots so to speak. It was more his…air of authority I guess and we spent a lot of time together, had a number of things in common…I can't explain it really, maybe it was just the older man thing," she sighed, "I _do_ like an older man."

"Oh, I've noticed," Dinah grinned, teasing her and making her blush. "Okay, you know what? And this is probably going to horrify you knowing how you feel about the family, but... well, and of course I prefer Severus but when we went to visit the Malfoys I totally noticed Lucius is a pretty handsome man. I don't know, I guess I suddenly have a thing for elegant former Death Eaters with long hair. Which is odd when you consider that Dylan was nothing like that," she laughed.

"I will shock you completely by saying I've seen pictures of Lucius and, his personality aside, I too think he's handsome. Though it's more of a pretty-boy type of handsome I think. What I don't understand is _why_ everyone thinks Gilderoy Lockhart is so attractive. I mean…" she paused, realizing she'd been about to mention her interactions with him when she'd been away. "Never mind."

"Oh no, I _totally_ agree with you there!" Dinah waved her friend off to put her at ease; "Even before Severus told me all about him I'd read things here and there – he seemed like such a show-off. I mean, I wouldn't say he was ugly but when somebody has an attitude like that they definitely come off as unattractive in my opinion."

"Exactly," Lucy agreed, "Do you think it's wrong I find Remus attractive? I mean I love him as a friend and have no desire to…well, you know, but still. He's my oldest friend's husband."

"No harm in looking," Dinah grinned, "I could totally look at Lucius. Granted, I do agree that he seems to overdo the pretty-boy thing a bit. Guess it has something to do with being brought-up rich. Oh!" she slammed her hands onto the coffee table; "You know what? I have the _best_ gossip! I don't know why I didn't get a chance to tell you this before!"

"What?" Lucy said, sitting up from where she'd been reclining on the couch.

"You know Astoria Greengrass, our little Draco Malfoy stalker?"

"Oh, yes. I've got an essay from her to grade. I'm sure she's used literary theory to compare our current novel to Draco somehow." The girl never gave up.

"Oh, but get this!" Dinah kept grinning, "She was _there_. Yes, she was at the Malfoys'. It seems she's managed to hook him all on her own and now they help her sneak over there most weekends to spend time with Draco. She was there the whole time!"

"No!" Lucy gasped, "I suppose that's what I get for being gone on weekends myself. Don't know what the students are up to when I'm not around."

Dinah grinned; "Yeah, but there's no point in trying to punish her for it. Might as well just let the Malfoys do their thing and not try to piss them off in any way, you know? Besides, she seems to be really good for Draco and for the whole family. They seem to enjoy her company and she gives Draco some much-needed normalcy. They're actually very cute together."

"A bit like you and Severus I imagine," Lucy yawned, the wine making her sleepy.

"Aww," Dinah felt blushed and glanced at her wine goblet, "Thanks, Lucy. You really think we're cute? You mean as kids?"

"As both kids and adults really. I find most couples who actually love each other _are_ cute. I find Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur just adorable."

She smiled; "I agree. You and Sirius are adorable too. Well, except for those 'just come in' moments," she laughed.

Lucy blushed, "Thanks. I find those moments quite enjoyable as long as we don't have an audience that is."

"I'm sure it's good that you have those moments, don't get me wrong," Dinah finished off her wine; "I just don't need to see them. For instance, if I had told you to 'just come in' Monday night..." she trailed off, blushing as she placed her empty goblet firmly on the coffee table; "Well, I think that's enough wine for me. Two is usually my limit anyway."

Lucy giggled, probably owing to the third glass of wine she was nursing, "I think the not wanting to see thing goes both ways." She stood and began setting the snacks and other dishes on the dining table, "I'm on my third glass myself, but if I have one more I will pass out on you. I can promise you that…by pass out I just mean sleep, not that I'm going to lose consciousness because of my drunken stupor."

"No, I think I get it. Still," Dinah yawned, standing and helping carry some stuff; "I think sleep is good. I have to get up fairly early. Meeting Severus for breakfast and then we have to go hike out to meet my family off in the middle of nowhere..."

"Mmmm," Lucy nodded. "Do you need any pillows or blankets before I crawl into bed?"

"Lots of both! I need to cuddle something," Dinah admitted.

Lucy laughed, "All right, I'll be right back." She darted into her room and returned with a pile of pillows and blankets. "I hope you appreciate this," she teased, "I'm letting you use my Snuffles blanket." She held out the blanket Sirius had given her last Christmas with Snuffles, Dora and Lucy's fox on it.

"Aw, thanks," Dinah smiled and hugged the blanket; "It's soft. And thanks for this party. It was very nice and very fun."

"You're welcome. Now get some sleep. You can't be all sleepy in your pictures tomorrow," Lucy ordered walking to her room and going inside, leaving the door open in case Dinah needed something in the middle of the night.


	74. Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Lucy woke to the feel of familiar lips on hers. "Mmm," she hummed, not opening her eyes, "Dinah's in the next room."

The lips left hers, but there was no response to acknowledge Dinah's presence. She pulled an arm out of the blankets and reached out, opening her eyes to search for her man. She didn't find Sirius there as she expected. Instead, sitting beside her bed was Snuffles, tail wagging and tongue hanging out. He wanted to play.

Grinning she sat up in her bed. "All right, all right," she said, using the unspoken incantation to turn her human self into her fox self.

Immediately he jumped up on the bed after her. In turn, Lucy leapt down and scooted under the bed. Snuffles tried to follow, nearly reaching her with his long legs. She streaked out of the room, through the open door that Snuffles had come in through. They jumped over furniture, Lucy crouching under furniture when she could.

Lucy tip-toed around the snacks she and Dinah had put on the dining table last night. Snuffles, however, was not blessed with her grace and sent the dishes clattering to the floor.

The chase didn't stop there though. Lucy vaguely registered Dinah's sleeping form moving on the couch and her momentary pause allowed Snuffles to get close enough to step on her tail, pinning her to that spot. She didn't mind that he caught her though, especially when he started nuzzling her.

"Good morning. Um... should I leave?" Dinah asked, sitting up.

Lucy giggled, as the pair of them transformed back, Sirius kneeling over her and her lying on her back in the middle of the room. "No, you're fine," she assured her friend.

"Sorry to wake you," Sirius apologized, "I just love chasing her."

Lucy giggled some more, "I'll never understand why."

"Because I love catching you more," he admitted, kissing her forehead. Well, at least that wasn't libel to lead somewhere Dinah shouldn't witness, even if it wasn't as satisfying that way.

Dinah smiled and Lucy was only slightly surprised she wasn't squealing about cuteness.

"Oh, Lucy, I had the most horrible dream!" she moaned, clutching her head in her hands; "Everything was going wrong! I don't even know where to start, just... _everything_! I fell in the cake and you two were trying to eat it along with Dora and Remus and the Malfoys were there – why were they there? Why was Lucius wearing a pink frilly dress? You don't think he's going to actually show up in one do you?"

Sirius laughed, maneuvering so he sat on the floor with Lucy in his lap. Sitting there she could tell what he'd rather be doing, but he was graciously entertaining her friend. She loved him for it. "I would _love_ for Lucius Malfoy to show up wearing a frilly pink dress! That would make my day, but I highly doubt he'd wear pink at all, regardless if it was frilly or a dress."

"Everything's going to be fine Dinah. Cakes I can fix and Dora isn't leaving these rooms. Remus, I'm sure is at home with his pregnant wife where he belongs. Though I will admit we will try to eat your cake later."

"But even if you fix the cake it won't change the fact that I fell in it!" Dinah moaned; "Larry was taking pictures!"

"Um, well," Lucy was beginning to think her friend had had too much wine last night, "We can confiscate the film and destroy it."

"But everybody still saw it. They won't forget," Dinah whimpered and wrapped a blanket around herself, burying her face in a pillow.

"We can _Oblivate_ them?" Sirius said, giving Lucy a look that told her he thought her friend was going crazy.

"That's bad," was all she mumbled from the pile of pillows and blankets.

"Well, Dinah," Lucy ventured, crawling off of Sirius's lap to cautiously touch her friends head, "I highly doubt you're going to trip and fall into the cake. For one thing it's sitting in the cool box and not anywhere near the ceremony spot and for another you've been walking for many years now without much disaster I'd think. I'm sure you're quite good at it by now."

"I want Severus," she mumbled into the pillow.

Lucy grinned. She knew what that felt like. "I can go get him if you want, but I highly doubt he's going to be happy to see me this early in the morning. He can be quite the crabby-pants in the morning if I recall."

Sighing again, she lifted her head just a little and turned to glance at Lucy, a small smile on Dinah's face; "It was just a dream, right?"

Giggling, Lucy assured her, "Yes, and I think we can all agree it's a good thing you didn't get scared out of your wits and jump into _my_ bed. It's hardly big enough for two, let alone three."

"Yes, and I can't change into an animal either." Sighing once more, she sat up; "Guess I should get dressed. Oh, and I'm hungry. Have you summoned breakfast yet? Sorry, that was a little demanding."

"That's okay," Lucy turned to look at the ruin that was currently her dining room, "Um, no, no breakfast yet. We should probably clean up our mess first. Why don't you go get dressed and we'll take care of this. Hopefully by the time you're done breakfast will be here."

When Dinah made her way into the bedroom, Lucy stood and started folding the blankets while Sirius waved his wand at the broken dishes and spilled food. The dishes repaired themselves, washing, drying and putting themselves back in the cupboards while the food put itself away.

Lucy was folding the last blanket when Sirius came up behind her and snapped the waistband of her pajama bottoms.

"These are mine," he growled in her ear.

"They used to be," she purred. She'd stolen a pair of his boxers out of her dresser, wearing them to bed. "Besides I think, you enjoy me wearing them," she murmured, pressing herself up against him.

Sirius groaned, "I can't believe I'm the one putting a stop to this but Dinah's not going to stay in the bedroom forever."

"Mmm, fine," Lucy pouted, but followed him to the table where they summoned up a breakfast of eggs, ham, corn muffins with jam, and fresh fruit.

When Dinah came back out of the bedroom, she looked pretty but not overly done up. After all there was little point in doing too much in the morning when you were just going to have to redo it all later. "You look nice," Lucy complimented.

"Thanks," Dinah flushed and sat at the table, playing with her hair; "I'm really getting married today?"

"Yes," Lucy smiled and teased, "but then you knew that was going to happen when you agreed to this right? Then again maybe you planned on being engaged forever like me."

"Hey, we could have been married that weekend," Sirius protested, "You're the one that wanted to set a date."

Dinah smiled, spooning some fruit onto her plate and forking a strawberry before popping it into her mouth; "It's kind of funny, that Severus and I will be married before you two. Not that it's bad or anything. You both have a much bigger wedding to plan, and no I didn't really want a long engagement. My advice, though, is to start planning now. See how much I'm panicking over just a small one?"

Lucy grabbed some melon and eggs for herself before responding, "Well, I think our shopping trip went a long way to starting the planning. We do have a guest list and the invitations are mostly done up. Oh, have you asked Severus about the flowers yet? I'm sure you've had other things on your mind I just wondered."

"Mm," Dinah shook her head, "But I'll ask him right away when I get back to the dungeons." A lopsided grin formed; "Guess I have to show him our gift, too."

"Oh, definitely," Lucy agreed, nodding.

"What gift?" Sirius asked, having no clue what they were talking about.

"Just never you mind," Lucy told him, patting his knee, "You're probably better off not knowing about it anyway."

Dinah started rushing through her food and when she was done, she wiped her mouth with her napkin and stood, "Thanks, but I'd better get going. If you want to meet Rosa and my family I think I'll get them here by about eleven. The ceremony starts right after lunch as you know."

"You're welcome," Lucy said, standing as well, only to be pulled back down and her face covered with kisses.

"You're not going far, thief," Sirius snarled at her, making her giggle at the sensations his words created.

"See you both later," Dinah gave a wave and flicked her wand to cause her bags to follow her, heading for the door.


	75. Chapter 75

Chapter 75

Lucy stood in her bedroom humming to herself, wondering if Sirius would recognize the dress she had on. Probably not. It was the same dress she'd worn to Slughorn's party. Their first night together, her first night… It was nearly the same dress anyway. She'd taken it to an adorable dress shop in Hogsmeade and the seamstress, Nerissa, had added two straps made out of the same filmy material as the skirt. Now she was able to wear her red and gold ensemble underneath it like she'd wanted

She twirled around once or twice to check that nothing would show if there was dancing. Then she went about securing the messy bun she'd placed beneath her right ear. Her outfit was completed with the peridot earrings and necklace that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had given her for her birthday. Well, it was complete except for her shoes anyway. She sat on the bed to put those on as Sirius came out of the bathroom, mostly dressed.

His eyes were glued to her as she leaned down to slip her feet into the almost-too-high silver pumps. She smiled to herself as he practically drooled over watching her fingers come around her ankle and fasten the strap…and that was only one shoe.

As she slipped the other one on he gulped, "Are you sure we don't have time…?"

"No," she said firmly, "we don't. But we have plenty of time for you to tell me how pretty I am," she grinned, turning in a slow circle so he could see all sides of her.

"You are the most gorgeous creature I've ever caught sight of," he said, still staring at her feet.

It made her blush when he looked at her like that but…"Please don't tell me you think my feet are sexy."

"They are in those shoes," he said, pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Get dressed," she ordered, pulling herself out of his arms and wandering out into the main room so she wouldn't distract her easily distracted fiancé.

She grabbed a silver shawl she'd bought when she'd picked up the dress from Nerissa's shop. Lucy hoped the silver went well with her apple green dress and also complimented Sirius's grey dress robes.

"Are they going to have dancing?" Sirius asked, coming out all decked out in his robes and, again grabbing Lucy around the waist, swaying back and forth.

She giggled, as he slowly spun her, "I don't know. I'm not even sure if Dinah wants the cake brought down. I think I'd better leave it up here though. That way the frosting won't melt and the chances of Dinah falling into the cake are greatly diminished."

"Well your classes are canceled for the day right?" he asked, still moving them about the room. He danced well. He'd confessed to Lucy that he'd been forced to take lessons.

Lucy grinned, thinking about how he must have hated those times. She could imagine him throwing tantrums and making all sorts of cracks about it, but he'd learned well and she was grateful for it. "Yes," she murmured, wondering what he had planned that he was asking all these questions

"Good," he said, dipping her.

"You know," she said, an idea coming to her, "you're going to have to teach me to dance. For our wedding."

"You dance just fine and I have been teaching you. You just didn't know it."

"Mmm," Lucy hummed. Sirius stood her back up and Lucy raised a hand to stroke his cheek, "You'd make a good teacher then. Giving lessons without making the student aware is a good skill."

"I don't need a job," Sirius insisted.

"Okay," she smiled, "but Minerva can't be both Headmistress and the Transfiguration professor forever. I think you'd be good at it Snuffles."

He barked at her and kissed her thoroughly.

"Now, I'm going to have to redo my lipstick," she scolded, "and you're going to have to redo yours too."

* * *

Having fixed their faces, Lucy and Sirius made their way across the Hogwarts grounds. A few of the students who were lingering about stared at them. One student, surprisingly Derwent, called out, "He must be taking you someplace nice Professor! Have fun!"

Lucy blushed and waved to Derwent, who was holding hands with Agrona as they headed into the castle. They walked farther along the path, leaving people behind coming closer to the place where they were supposed to meet Dinah and Severus. "Oh!" Lucy shrieked, when they stepped off the harden path into the softer grass and her heel sunk into the earth. "I guess I should have thought about this before I put these on," she muttered, yanking her shoe out of the ground.

"No, you need to be wearing those shoes," Sirius said, again staring at her foot, "but I can get you where we need to go," he said, gallantly picking her up to carry her the rest of the way.

"Put me down," she laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck, "I'm heavy."

"It's no different than attacking me at the door or in the Quidditch stands. Except this time I'm not doing anything too taxing," he teased.

Sirius kept walking until suddenly Dinah, Severus, and a group of people who must have belonged to Dinah appeared before them. All but Dinah and Severus were looking around with amazed expressions. The bride and groom were snuggled close together, his arms around her waist when an older woman spoke, "Oh, my, how sweet. Who are those lovebirds?"

Sirius smiled and murmured in Lucy's ear, "I don't know who she is but I like her already."

Lucy, only nodded as she let go of Sirius's neck with one hand and waved back at Dinah, who'd spotted them and waved.

Sirius refused to put her down until they'd reached the little group. It was sweet but her heels still sunk into the ground a bit.

Dinah chuckled and pointed; "I didn't think about that."

Severus simply flicked his wand at her feet, hardening the ground and allowing her some firming footing, "Think about using magic first," he muttered, tucking his wand away again.

Dinah seemed to test the ground beneath her feet before wrapping her arms around her groom; "That's what we have you for, my darling."

Lucy smiled, "I could have done that myself, you know? You didn't give me a chance."

"Yes, well," Severus smirked; "I assumed you had not thought about it given your choice on method by which to come down here."

Blushing Lucy could only think to say, "Yes, well."

Sirius had no problem coming up with a retort though, "And you'd give your girl a chance to think that up when you could hold her close to you instead?"

Lucy grew a bit nervous when Severus blushed and glared at his former enemy. Surely they were past all that now? She relaxed when Dinah stepped in-between the two men and said, "Now, now. Severus holds me close to him plenty, don't you, love? We just don't all come up with the same ideas off the top of our heads all the time."

At her words Severus sighed and seemed to relax, "I'm sorry. Perhaps this wedding is starting to unnerve me as well, though I did not dream of Lucius Malfoy in a frilly dress." He regarded Sirius; "You can carry her here as much as you want. I was simply trying to help. After all, Dinah's shoes are also... of that sort," he flushed again.

Lucy grinned and leaned over towards Dinah, "Seriously, what is it with guys and shoes? Feet are not sexy."

Dinah laughed, shaking her head; "I don't know. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's mystified about that. Oh! I'm sorry, I need to introduce you to my family and friends," she apologized, turning to her group, half of which were staring at the grounds, the older lady who'd spoken earlier looked quite perturbed though. "Everyone, this is Lucy Ketteridge and Sirius Black. Lucy's our colleague. She teaches the literature class here at Hogwarts. She and Sirius are engaged to be married."

"Oh, my goodness, really?" the older woman gushed, rushing forward to practically attack them; "How perfectly lovely! Do tell me all about it! When is the wedding? Where are you holding it? Do you have a dress yet? Oh you really must share _all _the details with me; my own family never tells me anything!"

"Uh, Lucy, Sirius, this is my Aunt Mildred," Dinah threw in the introduction.

"Um," Lucy giggled a little, not quite sure how to take Dinah's Aunt Mildred, "hi. There's really not much to tell. We've only just—"

"Only just gotten engaged! How wonderful! You must tell me all about it. How did he do it? Where did he do it?"

Lucy blushed over the possibility of telling this woman just how and where they'd been engaged, but was saved when Sirius said, "Only just started planning."

She wasn't sure Mildred had heard him though because the other woman had taken her left hand and began inspecting the ring.

"Oh, my. It's lovely but so very untraditional. I'd much prefer diamonds – ack!" she turned her appalled gaze to Dinah and dove at her, grabbing her hand to inspect her ring; "I forgot to look at my niece's! Oh, much more traditional. Just lovely. Severus, you make wonderful choices."

Lucy wasn't sure whether she should be offended or baffled by this woman's comments. Dinah hadn't been exaggerating about her Aunt Mildred.

An older man, whom Lucy assumed was Mildred's husband walked up to her and grasped her hand, "Now, now, dear, I'm sure Dinah would like to introduce her friends to the rest of us before the wedding begins."

"Ah, I suppose so," she let her hand fall from Dinah's.

Dinah sighed, mouthing a 'sorry' at Lucy and Sirius as Uncle Winston pulled Aunt Mildred away, allowing them all some breathing space.

Lucy smiled at her friend, hoping she realized that they knew it wasn't Dinah's fault.

Sirius leaned down to whisper, "You can have diamonds if you want." He almost seemed unsure that she actually loved her ring, even after all these months.

She leaned into him and patted his arm, "I got what I want."

"These are my Mum and Dad, Dahlia and Edward Samson. Mum, Dad, Lucy and Sirius."

"Very pleased to meet you and congratulations on your upcoming wedding," Mrs. Samson offered, smiling.

"Yes, it is good to meet some of Dinah's friends and colleagues from the other world," Mr. Samson said, extending his hand towards Sirius; "Oh, and please forgive my sister," he cocked his head toward Aunt Mildred who was accosting the other two people in the group; "She can be... a handful."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Samson, Mrs. Samson," Lucy said, using the manners her mother had taught her. "Don't worry about your sister. I'm used to dealing with my aunt. She's not quite so…" there were a number of things Lucy could call Aunt Mildred, but she didn't want to accidentally insult Dinah's parents, so she just pointed at the woman and said, "_that_ but she does love to fuss over people and it can get a bit overwhelming."

"You should be proud of your daughter Mr. Samson," Sirius said, taking the other man's hand and shaking it, "She takes care of my Lucy when I can't."

That and the peck on the cheek he gave her had Lucy blushing again.

"We are very proud of her," Mr. Samson agreed as his wife nodded; "Dinah has always had such a commitment to helping others, especially those people she considers close friends;" as Dinah smiled shyly, her father waved two men over. "This is my brother-in-law, Dinah's Uncle Winston, who has taken on a sacrifice worthy of infinite praise in marrying Mildred."

Uncle Winston extended his hand first to Lucy since she was closest; "Pleased to meet you."

Lucy took the other man's hand, "You as well. I'm sure Dinah's only my friend because I've forced myself on her. This is my first year teaching too," she teased.

"That's ridiculous," Dinah insisted.

"Oh, I know," Lucy grinned, "Besides if it were the case I think Severus would have been able to successfully kick me out of his rooms a long time ago."

Dinah just chuckled and gestured to the younger man next to Winston; "My cousin, Larry."

Sirius nodded, and made to shake another hand, "Larry."

Lucy surprised Dinah's cousin when she hugged him, "It's nice to meet Dinah's family. She tells me she beats you on that Nine Ten Do thing of hers all the time."

Larry grinned, "Yes,_ always_. But," he turned to Dinah; "I've been practicing. Just got that new racing game and I'm pretty sure I can beat you on it, especially since you _must_ be out of practice by now."

"Oh, really?" Dinah raised an eyebrow at her cousin, looking very Snape-like.

"You'd better be out of practice. Did you bring your stuff with you here? I think you did. If you weren't getting married and rushing off to a little love nest tonight I'd challenge you right here and now."

Severus's growled and Dinah laughed; "We'll have to take a rain check on that. And by the way, Severus hates hates hates _HATES_ anything Muggle. So we'll just have to be a little more cautious and discreet from now on."

"Oh! Maybe I could join you two sometime," Lucy said, feeling like a little kid, all excited about playing with the Muggle things. "I'm really not very good though."

"Well, then that's somebody for me to beat," Larry joked; "Oh, and Dinah says you two are taking wizard photos? I would _love_ to see a wizard camera. I dabble in photography from time to time myself and I'm taking the Muggle photos today."

"Of course!" Lucy beamed, turning to dig into Sirius's robes, where they'd stowed the camera.

"Lucy," Sirius growled, as her hand reached in a little to close to certain parts of his anatomy.

She giggled, blushing, and handed the camera to Larry.

"Oh, I see... wow, quite old-fashioned. But it looks fairly normal from the outside..." Larry turned the camera over in his hands.

"Be careful with it," Severus growled out the order, causing Larry to shrink back a little and nod.


	76. Chapter 76

Chapter 76

"Come on, Sev, we'll let Larry be for now – I promise he won't hurt anything – and we can go and introduce Lucy and Sirius to Rosa and Luke next," she pulled him along with her and gestured for them to follow.

"Dinah?" Lucy hurried forward to whisper in Dinah's ear, "Did you just say what I think you said?"

Dinah flushed, "I call him Sev on occasion, yes. He doesn't mind. It's just quick and casual sometimes."

"Yes, and I do not find it disagreeable in any way," Severus admitted, "Besides," he whispered in her ear, "I think it's good that we made all that clear before getting married. I wouldn't want you thinking I had issue with it when I quite obviously don't."

"Mm," she agreed, leaning into him; "Though I'm sure I would've assumed it was fine. My Sev," she smiled.

"Only your Sev," he admitted softly, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

Sirius made some childish gagging sounds.

"Oh, stop," Lucy said, swatting at him, "It's sweet."

"It's... cute!" Dinah's friend exclaimed from where she now stood nearby, staring at Severus with widened eyes.

"Ah, Rosa, Luke, Lucy, Sirius," Dinah made hasty work of the introductions. "Rosa helped us find out about Raymond Scrump and Jonathan Yates, if you recall," Dinah said to Lucy. "Rosa, Lucy is the literature professor here that helped me interpret some of the tales further."

"Oh, I've wanted to meet you," Rosa admitted, shaking Lucy's hand vigorously; "Some of those old wizard books are amazing. So much history involved. I'd love to talk to you more about that sort of thing sometime."

"Of course. I'm mostly self-taught as far as literature themes and such go, but we'll have to talk sometime. I'm _fascinated_ by Muggle literature. All the things they talk about and describe…"

"Well, I'm sure we'll get a lot of opportunities to talk as long as we're all friends with Dinah, even if we _do _live in different worlds," Rosa smiled. She looked like she was about to add to that when Aunt Mildred shrieked.

"Dinah, do you realize what time it is?"

"Um," Dinah flushed and shook her head.

"If your ceremony-performing wizard is supposed to arrive at 12:30 we only have fifteen minutes left! Must I think of everything?" the old woman rushed forward and looked them up and down again, then leaned over and whispered to Dinah; "Your fiancé should really learn to stop scowling all the time, dear."

Lucy couldn't hold in her laughter at that. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. I've known him since I was eleven and his face pretty much looks like that most of the time."

"You have?" Aunt Mildred fixed Lucy with a curious eye; "Am I to assume this implies you were taught by him? Just how old are you, dear?"

"Um, twenty-six," Lucy admitted, feeling as if her age was some sort of crime. "Severus was my Potions professor…but I don't imagine he could have been teaching very long…He would have only been about twenty-four or so if I'm figuring right…"

Severus grunted agreement and Aunt Mildred turned to Sirius; "And you are?"

"Thirty-nine," he told her, looking like he was feeling a little intimidated too, "Severus and I were at school together…Dinah too I suppose, though I don't recall knowing her then. A little odd considering we were in the same house but there it is."

Aunt Mildred smiled; "Classic May-December romance, I see. That's all well and good I suppose, but just be careful," she wagged a finger at Lucy, apparently choosing not to elaborate on her cryptic statement.

Lucy smiled and pulled Sirius's arms around her waist, "I think we'll be fine. Not even death can keep us apart apparently."

"Never," Sirius assured her, dipping her again to kiss her.

She only let his lips linger for a few moments before pulling back, "I should go help Dinah get changed."

"Ah, right," Dinah nodded. "I guess we should get started then. Lucy, can you get the cake out here? I'll put my ensemble on slowly, from the ground up. I have to get the most important things taken care of first," she removed her wand and flicked it, pearl earrings and necklace a necklace appearing in her hands. She put the earrings on and held the pearl necklace out to Severus; "Put it on me?"

"Mm," he agreed simply, coming around behind her and slipping on the necklace, his lips in her hair and his warm hands wandering down to caress her collarbone once he had it on.

"Oh, so untraditional," Aunt Mildred clicked her tongue.

"This is a small wedding, Aunt Mildred," Dinah explained, lowering her hair when Severus was finished; "Once we're ready we're just going to go with it."

"Well," Lucy said, pulling out of Sirius's embrace, "You're not changing right here and he's certainly not seeing you just yet. Come on," she said, tugging on Dinah's arm and hoping for some cooperation from Rosa.

"But, but, wait! I don't have all the pieces yet!" Dinah protested, snatching her arm back. "I just want to get on all the accessories, that's all. Mum!" she gestured for her mother to come over.

"Yes, yes, coming," Mrs. Samson hurried over, reaching into some sort of fancy looking bag she'd been carrying and pulling out a beautiful pearl bracelet.

"Grandmum's bracelet. My something old. Thanks for bringing it," Dinah said to her mum.

"Of course," Dinah's mum smiled, and then looked at Rosa; "Next?"

"Coming!" Rosa plucked an item from her own bag, holding it out to Dinah. "I see it already matches the one you're wearing."

"Gee, I wonder why," Dinah chuckled, taking the silver barrette and clipping it into the other side of her hair.

Lucy was confused about all of this but Dinah soon turned to her and explained, "When Rosa got married to Luke we found these platinum barrettes and got one each. She borrowed mine for the wedding, though it wasn't her something borrowed because I wasn't married yet. And we decided I would borrow hers when I got married. Kind of silly, I know."

Lucy shook her head, "No, it's nice. Tonks and I had talked about doing something similar back in school, but well…you can probably guess how that went."

"Sorry it never went through. Okay," she smiled and turned back to her fiancé; "Dress robes time?"

"Yes!" Lucy said a touch too loud. She was excited. "Did you have a spot to change in mind or do I have to drag you into the Forbidden Forest?"

Severus grimaced, "I have simply to flick my wand and I will be wearing them. Do not make this more complicated than it needs to be."

Lucy grinned, "Well, I meant Dinah more so than you but going someplace to change is not that complicated and I think Dinah mentioned needing to put something in her shoe when we went shopping…"

"Yes!" Dinah pulled out a single Knut; "There!"

"What?" Severus, looking confused for once in his life.

Dinah smiled, "Well, tradition states that the bride should put a penny in her left shoe for good luck or... something. Actually, it's a sixpence but they don't make those anymore. But I made it a Knut just for you!" she kissed his cheek.

He pulled Dinah tight against him before saying, "Little things like that are much appreciated."

Dinah smiled, reaching down and removing her black flats before handing them to Severus; "Shall I put on the white shoes?"

"Er," he flushed.

"I'll take that as a yes," she flicked her wand and they appeared on her feet, "Well, that feels a little funny but it'll do. So now that I'm wearing a black dress but white everything else..." she laughed.

"Come on," Lucy insisted, "You can't put on what goes _under _your dress out here. Oh," she said, watching Severus stare at Dinah's feet, "Don't tell me your shoes got the same reaction mine did. If Sirius would have gotten his way we would have been late getting down here."

"Probably," Dinah flushed; "Well, maybe not exactly," she flushed. "Ah, well, then," she cleared her throat and shook her head, smiling; "Lucy, I've decided that right before the ceremony starts I will put the dress on. I just have to wave my wand and everything is going to come together – the dress, the hair, and yes everything underneath it as well. It's all arranged, so don't worry about it. But thanks for your enthusiasm," she gave her friend and impromptu hug.

"Oh," Lucy returned the hug, a little disappointed, "well, you're welcome. I can bring the cake down whenever you want…pictures! Are we doing pictures before or just during and after? Oh, Merlin I'm going to be a basket case by the time my wedding comes around."

"I told you so," Dinah grinned, flicking her wand so a small table appeared; "Put the cake there. And pictures afterwards. Severus Snape, you are still not wearing your dress robes!" she scolded her groom.

Severus sighed, removing his wand with an annoyed expression; "Fine." He took out his wand and flicked it, exchanging his usual dungeon bat robes for some shiny black robes, with lapels.

"Oh,_ Severus_..." she murmured, walking up to him an fingering the shiny buttons; "You're beautiful."

"Yes, well," he cleared his throat; "I told you they were shiny."

Lucy was a little embarrassed to be watching this but was distracted by Sirius nudging her.

"Are you going to tell me how pretty I am?"

She smiled and rolled her eyes, "You're very pretty but we're here to stare at them not you."

"Hmph," Sirius teased, "See if I put out tonight."

"Well... that's everything but my dress and-" Dinah said.

"There," Severus pointed to a wizard coming towards them. It must be the man who was performing the ceremony. Lucy wondered if they should try to get his information for their ceremony. Of course maybe they should watch the ceremony first and see what they thought.

She leaned back into Sirius's arms wondering if he was thinking the same thing. She rested her head on his shoulder and looked up at him. When he glanced down and smiled at her she reciprocated the gesture. "I love you," she told him, reaching up to kiss his jaw.

"Lucy. Cake!" Dinah teased her when she saw the pair of them cuddled up.

"Oh!" she said, flicking her wand so the cake appeared on the small table Dinah had placed in the clearing. "Sorry. I got distracted."

"It's okay, I know how it goes," Dinah smiled; "It looks beautiful but I'll look more closely later. I have to go greet this man. Minerva was so wonderful. She found someone through the ministry for us who respected her wishes as Hogwarts headmistress and promised not to tell anyone about the wedding."

"That's wonderful," she turned to Rosa and Luke, "Minerva's wonderful. She's been so strong these last couple weeks, the right person to take Dumbledore's spot."

"Oh, that's lovely," Rosa blinked a couple times, looking very confused, "um, who?"

"Sorry. I forget you don't know these things," Lucy said, "He was the Headmaster here until he passed away recently. A lot of people really loved him. He just…he helped a lot of people."

"Oh, I see. Dinah might have mentioned him now that I think about it. Minerva is the new headmistress?"

"Yes, yes. Sorry again. I'm not really used to dealing with Muggles," Lucy apologized again.

"Mm," Rosa frowned; "Severus always says things about Muggles, too. I guess we must seem horribly ignorant to you magical folk..."

"Oh, no!" Lucy insisted, "I think it's the other way around. Dinah's always laughing at me for saying things wrong or getting excited over Muggle stuff. She's not mean about it. Thinks it's really funny actually."

"Dinah's great," Rosa grinned; "And don't worry, I guess even though we both live in different worlds we share a lot. Even if it's a mutual ignorance of the other world," she laughed; "So Severus was your teacher, then? I thought he was so cute as a teenager and...well, he's still cute with Dinah, but I confess," she flushed, "I'm kind of scared of him as an adult. Silly, I know, right?"

Lucy shook her head, "No, not at all. He likes to be intimidating. Dinah likes it too. On him, not her. Makes it fun to mess with him though. He gets so flustered."

Rosa giggled; "I'll have to remember that then. He did as a kid sometimes, too. Hard to keep track of the fact that he's the same person, a little bit."

Lucy shrugged, "Maybe a little but I've been sort of with them through the whole thing so it's less weird for me."

"Dinah's coming back you two," Luke said, pointing to where Dinah was walking with the others, giving his wife an indulgent smile.

"We're going to begin," Dinah announced, standing in the middle of the clearing.

The two couples walked over to where the rest of the group was standing. Both men, perhaps in a moment of sentimentalism, wrapped their arms around their girls.

Dinah looked around at everyone, looking a little like she wasn't sure what to do next.

"Dress," Severus nudged her.

"Oh! Yes!" She took a few steps back and then turned to Lucy; "Do I have your permission to change now?"

Lucy giggled and nodded, "Yes, of course."

When her friend took out her wand and used it to change into her wedding ensemble Lucy caught sight of Mrs. Samson wiping at her eyes and Uncle Winston restraining his wife, who looked like she wanted to go inspect Dinah's dress.

"Well?" Dinah asked, smiling at her groom.

"No buttons," Sirius murmured in her ear.

"But I like the buttons. Maybe not down the front like that or that many…"

"Oh Merlin Dinah, I don't... I can't even..." he stared down into her eyes, "You are... really mine?" he finally whispered.

"Severus," she leaned forward, murmuring into his ear; "You know I'm yours."

"All right, I've held my tongue long enough. This is _so_ not traditional," a tug on Dinah's arm and Aunt Mildred was pulling her away from Severus as he growled his protest.

Lucy laughed, "Oh, I don't know. I think the idea is usually to dress so the groom is so overcome that he loses his mind and must take the bride into his arms then and there."

"Yes, that should be his desire but not his action," Aunt Mildred insisted, "I know you love him dear," she said, "but you really don't need to be all over each other until you're actually married. Now, let's just go over here and-"

"Wait, Sev, your flower!" Dinah ignored her aunt as she remembered the boutonnière she'd ordered for Severus.

As she gently fastened it to his lapel, Severus grabbed Dinah's wrist and held her there, "She is trying to take you away from me."

"It's okay Severus," Sirius called, "I think she intends to give her back. I understand it's traditional for the bride to walk down the aisle to her intended."

"Yes," Lucy murmured, "by her father." She didn't want her father to walk her down the aisle, she knew that. She wasn't even sure if she wanted him at the wedding. Uncle Arthur had always been more of a dad to her then her own father; she'd ask him if he'd like to do the honors.

Severus grumbled; "There is no 'aisle'."

"We can make one, dear," Aunt Mildred assured her future nephew-in-law before turning to Dinah and instructing her, "Now, put on his boutonnière and let's get this taken care of."

Severus did not look pleased to be wearing a flower but let Dinah attach it to him anyway.

"It looks fine. And nobody is going to take me away from you either. See?" she let her bouquet bloom in her hands; "We match. And I got buttons, too. They match yours," she grasped his hand and guided it to the front of her dress, pressing his fingers to her buttons.

"We match," he murmured, fingering her buttons.

Behind her Sirius grumbled making some comment about Severus's hand and Dinah's chest.

"Yes, yes, lovely, now come on Dinah we must make an aisle!" she grabbed Dinah and dragged her away to stand in the middle of the clearing; "You! Ceremony-performing wizard, stand there," she pointed at the man and then at a spot on the grass.

"Yes, Ma'am," he smiled and obediently stood where he was told.

"Severus, next to and in front of him on the right. My right, not yours. Now," Aunt Mildred grabbed each person, placing them where she thought they should stand. "Very good. A small aisle. Now," she yanked her brother's arm and pulled Ed into the makeshift 'aisle', inserting his arm in Dinah's; "There! Just perfect! Now, begin!" she plopped herself next to Uncle Winston to take his arm and watch the ceremony.

As Dinah and her father started walking down the aisle, which was only a couple steps long, Lucy reached back into Sirius's pocket again for a hanky. She could feel the tears threatening already. It was a good thing she'd put him in charge of taking the pictures, which he was already doing.

The pair stood in front of Mr. Bole, staring into each other's eyes waiting for the older man to start the ceremony.

"Shall we begin then?" Bole asked, and then ran through the ceremony. Short and simple, just as they'd wanted.

He first asked Severus if he would take Dinah to be his wife through all the ups and downs of life and Severus's voice held no hesitation when he said, "I do."

"Do you, Dinah Samson, take Severus Snape..." Bole began asking her the same things he'd asked Severus moments before.

"I do," she whispered.

Bole instructed them to exchange rings.

Lucy dabbed at her eyes, trying to imagine how in the world she would make it through the ceremony herself, if she couldn't even get through her friend's without crying.

Dinah's hand shook so much Lucy was surprised she didn't drop the ring or something equally embarrassing. Severus didn't have the same problem though as they completed the exchanged and impatiently awaited the instruction to kiss.

Bole lifted his wand into the air, not giving them the okay to kiss yet, and flicked it once, sending a tiny shimmer of silver and yellow stars cascading over their clasped hands; "Then I declare you bonded for life."

They stared at each other for a moment before Bole added, "Oh, and you may kiss the bride," tilting his head towards Severus.

Lucy grinned as the pair kissed and Severus nearly lifted Dinah off the ground in his enthusiasm.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Severus Snape," Bole announced.

Dinah, predictably, squealed, but that was okay. Lucy figured she'd probably do something similar. And then the family attacked. Lucy and Sirius hung back though, Sirius continuing to take pictures.


	77. Chapter 77

Chapter 77

"Aunt Mildred, I think you're supposed to wait until we walk back down the _aisle_ before you congratulate us," Dinah scolded her aunt, who now insisted there was no aisle.

"Hey, the candid pictures are nice, but do we think it'd be possible to get some of everyone lined up all nice and calm?" Sirius asked.

"We do not need to make this more complicated-" Severus began, annoyed.

"Oh, just a few?" Dinah interrupted, nudging him.

He stared at her and then sighed; "Fine. Then what are we supposed to do?"

"How about we do the girls? Dinah, Rosa…Lucy," he said, pushing her forward gently.

"Oh, no, that's…"she protested, suddenly shy about having her picture taken.

"Come on, this will be fun," Dinah encouraged, waving Lucy to join her and Rosa.

Severus, she noticed went to stand behind Sirius and Larry, who were both holding cameras.

"You can't hide. I can still take your picture too," Sirius said, turning and snapping a very close up shot of Severus's face, while Rosa rushed forward to drag Lucy over to Dinah.

"Infernal dog!" Severus fumed, snatching the camera from Sirius and searching for the mechanism to erase the picture just taken; "You will remove that image this instant!"

Sirius laughed, "Hey, now I can't remove it if you've got the camera."

Lucy smiled to herself, cautiously looking around to see if any of the Muggles thought it was odd that Severus had called the other man a dog.

Taking the camera out of Severus's hands Sirius pushed a few buttons, "There. It's gone. Happy? That could have been Dinah's favorite picture."

"Oh, Merlin..." Dinah murmured as they watched Severus threaten Larry not to do such a thing. Lucy didn't think Dinah's cousin would dare.

"Everything okay?" she asked Dinah.

"He's my husband," Dinah whispered, pointing at Severus.

Lucy giggled, sliding a glance at Rosa, "Yes. I thought that was the point of this whole get-together."

"Mm," Dinah hummed with a silly sort of grin on her face.

It was Rosa's turn to giggle; "Come on, let's do this picture. Where do you want us to stand?" she asked Sirius.

"I didn't have anything specific in mind so whatever you want is fine with me," he told them, lifting the camera again and taking a picture of Lucy when she wasn't prepared. "That one was for me," he told Dinah, "I hope you don't mind."

Dinah gave him a teasing grin; "No, of course not. You're the one with the camera and I can see you have a one-track mind," she turned to Lucy and apparently only just noticed what she was wearing. "I like your dress, Lucy. It's kind of... Slytheriny, actually!"

"Thanks," Lucy grinned and blushed before telling her newly married friend, "It's the same one I wore to Slughorn's reunion party. The one I was wearing the first time we…" she clamped her mouth shut, remembering her promise to try and curb her impulses to say such things.

"Ah, yes, I remember," Dinah chuckled.

"Ohh, I see," Rosa teased

"Sorry," Lucy apologized to Dinah's friend, "I have a tendency to not keep my mouth shut when I should."

"Girls, girls," Sirius said. Hopefully he hadn't heard what she'd said, but by the look in his eyes Lucy doubted it. "If we want these pictures we have to pose."

"I like your dress, too!" Dinah complimented Rosa's deep purple number quickly, looking embarrassed; "I forgot to notice anybody's clothing until just now."

Rosa laughed; "It's okay, I get it."

"Okay, how do you want us to pose? If you just leave it to me we're only going to keep standing here... I've already made it abundantly clear today that I don't know what I'm doing," she asked Sirius.

"How about one lady on either side of you?" Sirius suggested.

Moving to stand on Dinah's left, Lucy turned to Rosa, "If I understand it right, it works best when you stand still for Muggle photos? Luckily for these kind we don't have to worry about that."

"Oh, I see. I recall that they move. That's interesting," Rosa agreed, looking a little antsy.

When Sirius finished and Larry asked them to stand still, Lucy had a hard time resisting the impulse to move about.

"You know, I didn't have a bridal party or anything that fancy but I think you two are essentially my bridesmaids," Dinah said, looking at both Lucy and Rosa.

"Well, obviously!" Rosa quipped, and Dinah laughed.

"Oh, Dinah," Lucy said, feeling teary again, "that means a lot." For as long as she could remember her only real female friend had been Tonks. She loved Tonks dearly but…it was nice to have another friend she could tell things to.

"No, it means a lot that you came and helped out so much," Dinah smiled, "Oh, and that you consented to feed me cake. I'm starting to get hungry, you know. We've essentially skipped lunch."

Lucy's stomach growled in agreement. It was hungry too. "We can do the cake whenever you want…but do you think we could get someone to take a picture of the four of us? Or the six of us?" she added, looking over at Rosa.

"Let's do it all!" Dinah agreed, enthusiastic; "I bet Larry would_ love_ to try out the wizard camera. Since he doesn't have to perform magic on his own – the camera does it all - he should be able to work it, I think. Severus!"

"Must I?"

"Yes, you must. Now get over here. Luke, you and Rosa and me and Severus first. That way Sirius can show Larry how to work the camera."

Lucy smiled and walked over to where Sirius was still standing with the camera. She looked over his shoulder as he explained to Larry how to work the unfamiliar device. Giggling she murmured, "Oh, you left it didn't you?"

"Course I did," Sirius smirked, "It wouldn't be right if I didn't mess with the man somehow."

She rolled her eyes, more amused than annoyed, "He is going to kill you when he finds out."

"Mm, I hope not."

Lucy didn't say anything just wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed his shoulder. She had to hold back her laughter at the three smiling faces ready for their pictures to be taken and Severus's glaring one. It was typical Severus and Dinah didn't seem to mind.

"Come on," Sirius said, after handing Larry the camera. Lucy hesitated again. She didn't _like_ being in the spotlight like people were when their pictures were taken. "Come on," he repeated, nearly lifting her off her feet in order to bring her to Dinah and Severus.

"Not a fan of pictures?" Dinah asked.

"Not a huge one. I feel weird having my picture taken. I won't run away though," she smiled, assuring her friend.

"Are you not the one who _suggested_ being in these infernal pictures?" Severus demanded.

"Yes," Lucy said, sticking her nose in the air, "but that was when I was already _in_ the picture. Then Dinah kicked me out and I got cold feet." She resisted the childish impulse to stick her tongue out at him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Dinah laughed; "Now smile. Larry," Dinah called, "you're going to have to take advantage of all the brief interludes when Severus manages to smile. They won't last long."

Lucy could see Aunt Mildred dancing around behind him, anxious to take over.

"Noted," Larry smirked, snapping pictures of the six of them with both the wizard and Muggle cameras.

After a few shots Dinah hurried Rosa and Luke away, leaving just the four of them

"I cannot believe we are actually doing this," Severus grumbled, eyeing Sirius.

Dinah laughed; "I don't think any of us can believe it. But just go with it."

Lucy wasn't sure if she should be happy or annoyed when Aunt Mildred shuffled her and Sirius out of the way, insisting she needed a picture with the bridal couple.

"Ma'am, I really do not think this is necess-" he began when she shooed Dinah out of the way for her picture alone with him, but was predictably cut off.

"Oh, call me Aunt Mildred, silly! And smile every once in awhile! You're a handsome boy when you smile! Though unconventionally, of course."

"Exactly what does 'unconventionally' even mean?" Severus shouted.

Aunt Mildred was saved from anymore shouting when Larry handed off the camera and persuaded his mother that Dinah, Uncle Winston and himself should also get their pictures taken with the unconventional Severus.

Severus looked like he was nearly out of patience when Dinah's parents snapped a few pictures with the happy couple.

"We should hurry up," Lucy said, motioning to Severus, "Dinah missed lunch and you know how she likes to eat."

He looked relieved as he walked up to Lucy, glaring at the group of people behind him. "Finally. I thought this wedding was supposed to be simple."

Lucy giggled, "I think this _is_ simple. Or as simple as it could be at any rate."

"Well!" Dinah laughed as she came over to join them; "At least Aunt Mildred has been behaving better than expected, anyway."

"_THAT_ is better than expected?" Severus nearly shouted again, but flushed when Dinah covered his mouth.

"Believe it or not, yes it is. Now let's take a look at Lucy's cake."

"Yes!" Lucy said, leading them to the little table, "I used magic to decorate it this time so it looks much better. People might even eat it."

"Apparently I have to eat it no matter what it looks like," Sirius teased, steadying her with an arm around her waist when Lucy wobbled a little on her heels.

"It's beautiful, Lucy. Thank you so much. You made the cake part from scratch though, just like before, right?"

"Just like before," Lucy assured her, proud that her cake looked much better this time, "except for the decorating of course."

Dinah was practically salivating as she stared at the cake, looking more eager to bite into it than Lucy had ever seen her. She conjured plates and forks, along with a large knife and stared at Severus until he got the hint that he was supposed to help her cut it. Dinah held up a forkful to her husband who didn't look like he was inclined to eat the cake at all.

"It tasted fine when it looked bad, _surely _it must taste fine when it looks good," Dinah assured him.

"I'm positive it does," Lucy said, nodding.

"Even if it doesn't we're required to eat it, or so I'm told. My fiancé made it and your wife is expecting you to eat it. I think we'd better just eat it and shut our mouths before we get in trouble," Sirius told Severus.

"Mm," Severus grumbled, but took the cake anyway, nodding his approval after a moment; "It will do."

"Good, now it's my turn unless you want me to pass out from starvation," Dinah teased, opening her mouth.

"Yes, yes, I suppose we should try to prevent that at all costs, though I _had_ decided to kill you after the ceremony if you recall," he held the fork up to her lips.

"Oh, right, because of the whole 'Neville's grandmother's dress' thing," Dinah smiled, accepting her forkful of cake.

"But I thought you looked lovely in it. I especially liked the hat," Sirius teased, batting his eyelashes at the other man.

"How did you-?" Severus demanded,

"Remus told me. I've seen Augusta before so I can well imagine. He said the color really brought out your eyes," Sirius grinned.

"Werewolf!" Severus growled; "And here I thought he was supposed to be the decent one of your group..."

"Oh, I'm sure Sirius demanded to know all the details," Dinah chuckled. "Sorry, Severus, if I had known he knew about it I wouldn't have said anything."

"Yes, well, technically I was the one who brought it up," her husband admitted with a sigh. They smiled at each other before Severus reminded her, "Starving, remember?"

"Oh! Yes, of course!" she dug her fork in, leaning against Severus and grinning; "Tastes just as good as before, Lucy. I knew I made the right choice in hiring you."

"Wait until you get the bill," Lucy teased. She took a forkful of her cake and held it up to Sirius.

"Oh, I don't think so," he grinned, scooping up the cake with his fingers before smushing it on Lucy's nose and upper lip.

"Now I'm sticky," Lucy whined, before Sirius leaned down and licked the tip of her nose, continuing on to kiss the cake off her lips.

Dinah said something before leading her new husband away, or at least Lucy thought she did.

She managed to keep her cake in her hands and only protested when she felt Sirius start to maneuver her towards the trees. "Not now," she insisted, "It's a small wedding Dinah will notice if we go missing."

"Spoilsport," Sirius grinned.

"Well," Lucy said, backing away from him and pulling him over to the group, "despite previous evidence I'm not really into the danger of being caught."

Sirius clearly didn't think she was serious and went back to snogging her. She didn't mind. They broke apart though when Aunt Mildred suddenly burst in-between them, yelling something about tradition. "Now!" she said, looking at the pair of them, both using napkins to wipe the last of the cake off their faces, "Do tell me all about your wedding plans! I simply _must_ know the details; I adore weddings!"

"Well…um, it's sort of going to have to depend on the school schedule. We're thinking a winter wedding," she turned to Sirius considering something for the first time, "I wonder if we'll have to worry about the press showing up. I mean a lot of people still believe you murdered all those people…"

"'Murdered'?" Aunt Mildred didn't miss a beat as she stared at Sirius; "Mr. Black was accused of murdering people?" She looked at Lucy as though she was about to start warning her again to 'be careful' as she had before.

"Oh, Aunt Mildred," Dinah sighed.

"Accused only, Aunt Mildred," Severus clarified, distracting the woman by using the term aunt.

"The wizarding world thought he was responsible for the deaths of many people and the betrayal of a very famous wizarding family that included one of our childhood friends," Severus continued. "He has been cleared of all charges leading to the family's murder, however. Well, the child survived. I am sure you've heard of Harry Potter," he raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, Harry Potter! The famous Harry Potter! Of course we have heard of him! Oh, Ed, Dahlia, do you remember that article Dinah showed us last year about the things that boy did...?" she trailed off, digging into a second piece of cake.

"Sorry," Lucy apologized, when the other couple turned back to them after finishing a little conversation with each other; "I think I nearly got lectured…"

"It's okay," Dinah assured her; "And yes, you just narrowly escaped. You should thank Severus. If he hadn't distracted her..."

Lucy put both hands over her heart and said dramatically, "I am eternally grateful."

"Yes, thank you," Sirius added, "It took me long enough to talk her into marrying me. I don't need anyone talking her out of it."

"Clearly I played hard to get," Lucy said, rolling her eyes.

"It's good to know one of my most stalwart opponents no longer believes I would murder my best friends," Sirius said, looking at Severus. He seemed genuinely glad that the other man no longer thought that of him.

Severus sighed and nodded, wrapping his arms around Dinah from behind; "I had a one-track mind back then and I'm sorry for my erroneous assumptions. I think I see things much more clearly now."

Sirius shrugged, moving to wrap his arms around Lucy, reflecting Severus's position with Dinah. "You're not the only one that thought that."

"That's something…no," Lucy shook her head, "We'll save that discussion for another day I think."

"I'm afraid I made a similar comment at the beginning of the year as well. I guess we all know how easily the wrong opinions about people float around in the wizarding world. Yet, someone did betray them. Peter Pettigrew was supposed to be your friend, too."

"For what it's worth I made sure he was completely tortured and miserable while he was forced to work with me," Severus told Sirius; "If that helps."

Sirius smirked a little, "Yes, it does. I suppose it's a good thing Harry stopped us from murdering the rat. If he hadn't I probably _would_ have been in Azkaban."

Lucy leaned back and grinned, "And then you wouldn't have such a wonderful woman in your life"

"Who is this Harry Potter?" Rosa demanded poking at Dinah's shoulder. "Your aunt keeps babbling on about him to your parents and I heard you mention Harry..." she looked at Sirius.

"Oh," Dinah grinned, "Sirius's godson. And pretty much the savior of the entire wizarding world. Very nice boy, too. He finds mine and Severus's snogging very amusing."

Lucy giggled and looked up at Sirius, "I think he just finds our snogging embarrassing."

Sirius turned her around, moving them into a couple dance steps before dipping her again. "I can't imagine why," he said, giving her only a quick peck.

Rosa laughed; "I see. Thanks. But here I thought _you_ were supposed to be the savior of the wizarding world."

"Nope," Dinah replied, shaking her head and happily leaning her head on her husband's shoulder; "I only had to save one person."

"Or perhaps five people," Severus murmured in her ear.

"Five?" she glanced up at him.

He nodded; "Tommy, Dumbledore, Grindelwald, Bellatrix, and myself."

"Severus," she smiled and tilted her head to receive his kiss, her hand moving to stroke the petals of the flower on his lapel. She laughed; "You know what? I've got all the house colors except our beloved Gryffindor. See? Yellow in the flowers, blue in the bouquet, and green in the Queen Anne's lace stems..."

"I think the gold in our rings is Gryffindor enough," he murmured; "After all, we do share that 'second house', do we not?"

"PERFECT!" Larry suddenly shouted.

"Perfect?" Dinah wrenched her eyes from her husband's to look at her cousin; "What is?"

"That pose! You've both finished your cake, I think it's time for bride and groom pictures. And you just gave me all sorts of inspiration."

"Oh, good," Lucy said, going to stand behind Sirius, "did you want Sirius to take more pictures too?"

"Of course, if you don't mind. I'd love to have both types of pictures," Dinah said, laughing. "Come now, I can only assume you've decided not to kill me after all, so we might as well let my cousin take a couple of nice pictures of us," still holding his hand, she led him out into the middle of the grass where Larry beckoned.

"All right," Larry considered them; "now shall we-"

"Ah, I have the perfect pose!" Aunt Mildred exclaimed.

"Mum, NO._ I_ am in charge of-"

Lucy laughed and whispered to Sirius, "I'm so glad she's not my relative right now." Sirius just chuckled.

"Mildred, why don't you just watch for now?" Uncle Winston offered; "I'm sure our son knows what he's doing."

"Well, this is his first time doing wedding photography, though. Ah, well, perhaps Mr. Black would like some tips-" she started to head for Sirius and by extension Lucy, but Mrs. Samson cut her off before she could reach her destination.

"Mildred, perhaps this nice young couple would like to come up with their own ideas as well," Dinah's mother offered; "After all, wizard photography is quite different from Muggle photography as I understand it. Besides, if you just watch you can indulge more in how nice Dinah and Severus look together."

"Well, there is _that_..."

Mrs. Samson smiled and walked over to stand by Lucy and Sirius; "I do apologize if she keeps bothering the both of you. I'm afraid the fact that you're engaged makes you a prime target."

"That's all right," Lucy assured the older woman, "It sort of makes me a target at school too. At least with the girls…and Slughorn. Another professor," she added in case Dinah's mum wasn't aware of who the man was.

"Oh, we most definitely know of Slughorn," Dahlia smiled; "He was always good to Dinah. Although... I suppose...a bit of a character of sorts."

"He's generally harmless," Lucy told her, "just…a bit of a character as you said. He seems to think I don't quite appreciate the honor I've been given marrying into the noble and most ancient House of Black."

"Oh?" Dahlia asked, turning to Sirius as Larry started to instruct Severus and Dinah into position for their first picture; "Do you come from a famous wizarding family?"

Sirius rolled his eyes a little, ready to take a picture when Larry was done, "You could say that. My parents would certainly think so. They were convinced that to be Black made you practically royal. Really though an old wizarding family, what some would call 'pure-blood'."

"Oh, one of those groups," Dinah's mother nodded, frowning; "It sounds like you disagree with their values."

"Yes," Sirius nodded, sounding a little bitter, "one of my best friends was Muggle-born; another is a half-blood. I never really agreed with my parents. Either way most of the family is dead now and the ones that are left are more or less tolerant of those of us not of the proper blood lines."

"That's good," she nodded; "Oh, well not the death of your family of course. And it's just unfortunate that you didn't get along, but I'm glad the remaining members are more tolerant. Dinah is a good judge of character, so don't mind what Mildred says. I'm sure you two are perfectly right for each other despite the age difference," she smiled.

Sirius snapped a few pictures as Larry directed the other couple into various positions.

"Mmm, I'd like to think so," Lucy said, "We make each other happy."

"That's so nice. Congratulations. Ah, it looks like they're done," Dinah's mother wandered over to stand next to her husband again.

"I like her," Lucy said, hugging Sirius, "She's a lot like Dinah."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, "They're good people. Non-judgmental, friendly."

"I hope we get to spend some more time with them. It's nice getting a more experienced couple's opinions on things."

"Lucy," Dinah soon beckoned with her hand for Lucy to stand in front of her.

"What?" Lucy asked, going to stand in front of her friend, confused about what she wanted and feeling very self-conscious. Everyone was looking at her…

"Go like this." Shifting her bouquet to the crook of her elbow Dinah cupped her hands in front of her, elbows bent, apparently showing her what she wanted Lucy to do.

"Okay…" Lucy said, giggling a little as she mimicked her friend.

Dinah smiled and took her bouquet back into her hands. "Here," she lightly tossed it the couple of inches from her arms to Lucy's. She nearly dropped it but was able to keep from disgracing herself. "I think you're the only single girl here," Dinah explained, grinning.

Lucy laughed, finally realizing what her friend was doing. "Just barely and only in the legal sense."

"I think that's the only requirement, silly," Dinah teased. "After all, these days that's pretty much all you get."

"True, true. I guess this means I'm the next to get married," Lucy grinned.

"Hmm, probably," Dinah brought her fingers to her chin and pretended to consider, then laughed; "Thanks for coming. How about we all walk to the gates together and then if you and Sirius don't mind you could lead my Muggle guests back down the path to their cars? I think my... _husband _and I," she murmured as Severus came up behind her and took her into his arms, "will probably be apparating away the instant we exit these grounds."

"My wife is correct," Severus purred, kissing her neck.

"Of course," Lucy assured them, "I'm sure we'd want to do the same thing," she said, gesturing to Sirius.

The group walked back towards the entrance, Severus and Dinah hanging back for a few moments. They soon rejoined the group though. Once outside the grounds Aunt Mildred started exclaiming that the school had turned into a dangerous old ruin.

"It's to help keep Muggles from accidentally wandering in," Lucy tried to explain, "You must know about the Statute of Secrecy?"

"Oh, yes, Dinah has explained such things. So it's not _really_ a ruin?"

Dinah shook her head; "That is simply what you see. It's not what's really there."

"Well, you and your magic," Mildred smiled hugging Dinah; "Congratulations, dear. I know you'll both be very happy. You say you are honeymooning in the Cotswolds? That's almost within driving distance!"

"Er, yes..." Dinah flushed, "_almost_."

Aunt Mildred laughed; "Oh, I'm not going to hound you. Go and have fun." She hugged Severus again before telling him in a secretive tone; "Next time we visit you are just going to _have_ to tell me all about yourself. I must know the _real_ Severus Snape."

"Perhaps we'll have plenty to tell about our honeymoon and married life," Dinah said, rescuing her desperate looking husband.

They hugged everyone one last time before Dinah and Severus apparated off to the Cotswolds and their honeymoon.


	78. Chapter 78

Chapter 78

"So, um, I guess Dinah forgot to tell us _where_ you guys left your…cars," Lucy said the last carefully, making sure she was using the right word.

"Down the path, she said," Dinah's father clarified, walking over with Dinah's mother.

"Yes, that's right," Dahlia agreed; "I think we just came up the one path alone."

"All right," Lucy said, starting down the path, her hand linked with Sirius's, "that sounds simple enough. So," she said turning to Mrs. Samson, "How did you and Mr. Samson meet?"

Mrs. Samson smiled, exchanging an affectionate glance with her husband, and then she laughed; "Well, we met in secondary school but at the time there was a -"

"Florencia!" Aunt Mildred exclaimed, joining in their conversation without being asked; "She was my brother's old flame back in school. My was she beautiful. I was so sure they'd get married back in those days!"

"Mmm, so you were the other woman then?" Lucy grinned.

Mrs. Samson flushed; "I was not! Florencia was terrible for him! Wasn't she, dear?"

"Well..."

"Oh, stop hesitating, it's not funny!" she swatted at him.

Mr. Samson chuckled, placing a light arm around his wife; "Florencia had her merits, but ultimately she became restless and had to follow her whims away from me. This one stayed," he kissed Mrs. Samson's cheek and she blushed.

Sirius pulled Lucy close to him, giving her a sideways hug. "This one wouldn't leave," he teased.

Lucy pushed at him, "You're such a liar. You chased me. Sometimes literally."

"Oh, my, that's dedication," Mrs. Samson laughed.

"More like dogged determination," Lucy grinned.

"I only chased you because you ran away. Afraid to kiss me," he said in a stage whisper to Larry.

"I was being cautious!" Lucy protested, "And a good thing too. Look what happened when we got caught under the mistletoe."

Larry laughed; "I guess she stopped running eventually then?"

Sirius grinned, "Eventually."

Lucy sighed and rolled her eyes, "Boys. Do they ever grow up?"

"Oh, never," Aunt Mildred shook her head dramatically; "Take mine and Winston's Larry here."

"Aw, _Mum_!" Larry almost whined.

"Still lives at home, can you believe it?" the old woman whispered - very loudly - at Lucy, her hand cupped around her mouth as though nobody could hear her.

"I have my reasons!" Larry protested, flushed.

Lucy smiled and tried to comfort Larry, "Well, if my Mum were still alive I'd likely be living at home too. Except for when I'm teaching of course. Actually if I hadn't quit my Ministry job I'd probably still be living with Tonks. Then again she _is_ married now…I suppose I could be living with my Aunt and Uncle too…" She purposely made no mention of her father.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that your parents have passed on," Aunt Mildred gushed; "Though it does sound as though you have many places which would be welcoming to you regardless."

Sirius turned his head to look at her, probably wondering if she was going to let them think her father was dead or not. She wasn't sure herself. "Yes," she nodded, "Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur have always been like a second set of parents to me. Probably because they don't like my father and I was so young when Mum died…"

"Oh, I see," it seemed the old woman actually had a boundary or two. She nodded and her eyes drifted down to inspect her bag; "I am sure your aunt and uncle are good people."

Mr. Samson sighed at his sister before turning to Lucy; "She means well."

"It's all right," she told her friend's father, "it was a logical assumption to make. My father and I don't get on at all so there really isn't much to say about him. Aunt Mildred," Lucy said, trying to make the older woman feel better, "you told me how Mr. and Mrs. Samson met, but what about you and Uncle Winston?"

"Oh, well," looking excited that someone was asking her about her love life, Aunt Mildred grabbed her husband's arm and explained; "I had gotten a summer job at the amusement park in college, you know. Winston was assigned to work with me at the fairy floss station! Then later my position was changed and I had to work one of the rides, but he continued to bring me fairy floss on breaks."

"Sounds romantic," Lucy nodded, and turned to Rosa. She assumed the other woman was the least likely to give her strange looks when she asked, "Amusement park? Fairy floss?"

"You don't know what they are?" Rosa blinked; "Oh yes, the whole world differences thing. Amusement parks are areas where Muggles entertain themselves with food, games, and rides, and fairy floss is a colorful, spun-sugar snack food."

"Ah," Lucy nodded. She still wasn't sure exactly what either thing was but at least now she had a better idea. She looked around, confused, when Sirius stopped walking.

"We've reached the end of the path," he informed her.

"But I don't see any of those cars like Dinah's," she said.

"I assume she put a couple charms on them to keep them hidden," he said, using his logic before pulling out his wand and saying, "_Finite Incantatem_."

"Oh, that still shocks me every time!" Aunt Mildred chuckled, apparently easily amused bye everything around her.

"I'm sure it's just as fascinating to you as Muggle things are to me," Lucy laughed, "Dinah derives great amusement from my reactions to such things." She and Sirius said good-bye to each of the guests in turn. Lucy gave Rosa a hug and told her to make sure Dinah arranged a time for the three of them to hang out. "I hope all of you had a great time. It was so nice meeting everyone and it'd be wonderful if we could all see each other again sometime."

"Oh, yes," Mrs. Samson smiled; "Thank you for taking us back to our cars and I hope you two have a wonderful wedding. Again, congratulations. You said it was going to be in winter? I'm sure that will be lovely."

"Thank you. Nothing's set in stone yet but I'm hoping it will be just as lovely as today's was."

"Today's was lovely, wasn't it? I hope they are so happy on their honeymoon," Dinah's mother smiled.

"Well," her father said; "Thank you again. I'm sure we'll see you both from time to time."

"You're welcome and I'll be sure to bug Dinah until she plans another little get together for all of us. Have a safe trip!" Lucy waved as everyone got in their cars and drove off down the road.


	79. Chapter 79

Chapter 79

Poppy was _not_ pleased. They'd woken her up way earlier then she would normally have woken but they need to get this taken care of before the students saw. At least her robe sleeves were long enough to cover the rope burns most of the time, but the wounds did in fact burn. Lucy had had rope burns before but never quite this intense.

"I am a school healer. I'm _not _here to fix these kinds of injuries."

"Sorry Poppy," Sirius said, pacing the room and looking a little sheepish, "It's not like we intentionally did that." He pointed to Lucy's wrists, which were quite red and sore.

Lucy looked up at the Hogwarts healer, blushing, "It'd probably be fine if we hadn't both fallen asleep before untying me. It wasn't too tight or anything…I just tugged too hard. Really I think that a simple concealment charm is all that's needed and I can do that myself…" She went to get up from the bed, but Madam Pomfrey put a hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place.

"Sit," the older woman ordered, walking over to a table and picking up a small jar. "Here," she said, handing the jar to Lucy. "You need this. It will take care of those burns and make sure there's no scaring. _Don't _let it happen again."

"We won't Poppy," Sirius assured her, but the witch just ignored him.

"You," Lucy said as they walked out of the Hospital Wing, "are getting me into so much trouble."

"Yeah," Sirius grinned pausing to take the jar from her and spread some salve on her wrists, "but it was completely worth it."

"I don't know about that," Lucy said, casting the concealment charm and taking the jar back to put it in her pocket, "I'm not really into the injuring each other thing. I find it more painful than anything. The rope fine, the rope burns…"

"I admit those were completely unintentional. It won't happen again," he said, lifting one of her wrists to his mouth and kissing it. His eyes came up to meet hers, "I'm sorry."

Lucy sighed; she knew he hadn't meant to hurt her. It had just been an accident. They'd used the rope a number of times before – on both of them – and had never had an incident like this occur. "I want to marry you," she said.

He chuckled, a few students passing them as they made their way back down to her rooms. "I thought that was why we got engaged."

"No," Lucy shook her head, "I mean I want to set a date."

"Oh," he grinned, opening the door for her, "and what brought this on?"

"Dinah's wedding I suppose. That and I think I'm ready to be married." She stood in the middle of her living room and cuddled up to him, "I find I like the idea of having you here when I'm done with work, of just having you around."

"Good," Sirius said, pulling her close, "I like being around."

"So, I was thinking," Lucy said, leading him over to sit on the couch, happily skipping breakfast, "that December during the break would be good. Maybe the Saturday before Christmas? We'd be able to have a week long honeymoon, maybe spend Christmas by ourselves…"

"I told you. Whatever you want."

Lucy giggled and playfully kicked at him, "You have to have an opinion too."

"I do. We're not inviting the Malfoys and you should probably be there."

"Are we allowed to invite the Snapes then?"

Sirius gave a dramatic sigh, "There's more of them now isn't there?"

"Yes," Lucy nodded, "You were there. Took many pictures of it in fact."

He pretended to consider that for a few minutes, "I suppose they can come then."

"Good, because I like them." She looked over at the clock and sighed, "I've got to go. Be here when I get back?"

"Of course," he assured her as she left for her last day of teaching that week.

* * *

Using the key she'd been given Lucy opened the door to Severus's, and now Dinah's, dungeon rooms. Dinah had asked her to take care of the animals before she left and rather than risk Dora thinking Helga looked a little too tasty she'd left the animals where they were.

She sat the magical wedding pictures, carefully put in an envelope, on the coffee table before she went to feed and water all Dinah's critters. Godric though seemed starved for attention and insisted she sit down on the couch and cuddle him for a few more moments. As she scratched the cat behind the ears a smile spread over her face. Severus obviously hadn't considered what would happen if she had access to his rooms all the way through.

Standing up, much to Godric's annoyance, she went over to what were now cabinets filled with potions. She slowly reached out a hand, lest he actually _had_ thought it through and placed protections on his precious concoctions. Nothing happened though and she opened three of the doors. Lucy stood there, considering just how she could rearrange his potions this time.

"What do you think Godric? Should I rearrange them by color again? Or thickness? I could do both but then I probably _would_ be banned from coming down here again. Thinkness will likely take too long to determine and I'm not sure how well I'd be able to do that in those little test tubes. I guess that means we'll sort them by color again."

Lucy happily hummed to herself. Godric wound himself around her legs, occasionally playing with her swaying robes, as she moved nearly all of Severus's potions and closed the cabinets when she was done. She grinned to herself as she closed the door behind her, locking it. That was going to a wonderful coming home present for her former Potions Master.

* * *

Lucy glanced around the Great Hall anxiously Monday morning. She hadn't seen or heard from Dinah since she'd left for her honeymoon Thursday afternoon. Though she hadn't really expected to. After all, if she were on _her_ honeymoon she doubted she'd be writing to her friends.

She sighed and looked out over the students, reaching for a few apple slices to go with her bowl of cereal this morning.

"Oh my. Are you all right, Professor Ketteridge?" Slughorn asked, looking rather alarmed when she turned to him.

"What?" she asked, confused by his behavior.

"Your arm. It appears to be quite red."

Shoot. She hadn't been using a concealment charm in her rooms and she'd forgotten to apply one this morning. She hastily applied an unspoken charm. It was a weak one but she hoped it worked well enough.

"I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you mean. My arms are fine," she said, pulling up one of her sleeves to show him her "uninjured" arm.

"Oh," he said, looking slightly crestfallen, "I must have been mistaken. So sorry."

"That's quite all right," she smiled at him, "No harm done."

Lucy wasn't the only one who spotted the newlyweds when they walked in. Most of the staff was staring at them. Slughorn said something along the lines of how happy they looked. Lucy, however, raised her hand to wave at them in greeting. Her hand stopped in midair and she probably looked like an idiot when she froze in place at the thunderous look she was receiving from Severus.

Dinah turned to look at her husband, speaking to him. Whatever she said must have convinced Severus not to kill her right then because he gave her a curt nod and took his seat. A part of her thought that if she'd been a registered animagus she'd have turned tail and run considering the look she'd received but hopefully he didn't actually mean to do her harm.

She inhaled the rest of her meal as quickly as possible, in true Dinah style. When she had emptied her bowl she turned to Slughorn. "Well, I think I'll be off to class early today. Get everything all set up and maybe get more work done on my final exams. Have a good day."

"Oh, you too, you too. I might just wander down to the other end of the table and see how our lovebirds are doing. Yes, I think that's what I'll do."

Lucy didn't particularly care what he did and managed to keep herself from walking too fast out of the Great Hall.

* * *

By nine o'clock Lucy had calmed down enough to rush out after her class, canceling her office hours, and head on over to Dinah's classroom. On her way in the door she met Mae Yates coming out.

"Oh, hi Professor!" the first year said.

"Hi," Lucy smiled. The girl was so cheerful she could almost be a Hufflepuff.

"I'm sorry. I've got to go or I'll be late to Transfiguration and Professor McGonagall won't be happy about that."

"No, she won't. Go on, I wouldn't want to be the cause of your tardiness." She watched as Mae rushed off, before ducking into Dinah's classroom. Lucy rushed up to her friend and hugged her before even bothering to say hello.

Dinah laughed before returning her hug, "It's nice to see you too, Lucy."

Lucy grinned and let go of her friend, "Hi. So, how was it? You've got to tell me everything, even if that does make me a little bit too much like your Aunt Mildred."

"It was...lots of fun. I made Severus go swimming on Friday. And on Saturday we made good use of your kiwi-flavored present. Figured you might like to know, only since you were the one who bought it," she winked at her friend.

"Well, at least someone got to enjoy them," she said. After the incident on Thursday her weekend had been spent in a much more sedate manner. She chewed on her lip for a minute. "See," she said, grinning at Dinah, "I stopped there. I _can_ learn."

"Good," Dinah chuckled; "And anyway, we all have slow times. It's a part of life. Besides, exam week is coming up and... ah, yes, Lucy, um... about what you did with the potions..."

"Oh…um…yes. In retrospect I may have gone a little overboard…" she blushed. It had been fun at the time but Sunday night she'd been wondering if rearranging _three_ cabinets worth of potions was a bit much.

Dinah sighed; "Well, at least you realize it. I mean, moving three around was funny and cute, and I think Severus enjoys getting flustered like that to an _extent_, but all of them... We noticed two cabinets before breakfast, were there any more you messed with?"

"Um, just one more. It's right next to the other two."

"Three, then," Dinah frowned. "All right. No more, okay? Severus is intending to put sticking charms on his potions from now on. I noticed a lot of them don't have labels. The labels are on the shelves but not the bottles, jars, and vials themselves. Not exactly the most efficient method in my opinion, as good as Severus is with that sort of thing – but I find wizards are not always as efficient as Muggles. This school certainly isn't run as efficiently as Muggle schools are..." she sighed again; "It will probably take a very long time to fix, that's all I'm saying."

Lucy nodded, "I understand. I'd offer to help fix them but I'm assuming that wouldn't be a good idea and honestly, I assumed he'd have some sort of identification on the containers otherwise I wouldn't have done so many."

"You should have looked more carefully. Some of them have labels but not all of them. I'll tell Severus I lectured you but it still might not spare you at least a passing mention from him. Especially since the up-close picture Sirius took of him has also got him a little riled."

Lucy frowned, "I _knew_ I should have taken that one out. I mean I don't think it's a bad picture really but I figured he'd be annoyed by it. I suppose this means I'll have to be extra nice if I want him to come to the wedding then. Especially as I don't think you'd come without him…not that I'd expect you to, mind."

"Extra nice will probably help," Dinah grinned; "But I'm sure we'll still come to the wedding. Besides, I do think you've gotten the message."

Lucy giggled, "I suppose the impulse control goes along with my babbling issue. I swear sometimes you wouldn't believe I was a Ravenclaw. But do you still think you would come if I told you the wedding was tomorrow?" she teased.

"Hmm, I might have to drag him by the tail of his robes," Dinah laughed. "Let's just suffice it to say it's a good thing the wedding is _not_ tomorrow. Besides, I think Minerva would lose her mind. She's got enough on her plate already what with the Triwizard Tournament details Dumbledore left her to finish."

Lucy laughed, shaking her head, "No, I wouldn't do that to Minerva. She'd probably kill me. It's going to be stressful enough doing it about a week before the Yule Ball…Anyway, tell me. What do you think of life as an old married woman?"

Dinah sighed, smiling; "Lucy, it's wonderful. I mean, not that much has changed but just knowing that our life is our life now. That I will just casually, every day, go back to my home with Severus. Go about the most menial, ordinary tasks, but always sharing them with another person. I know it sounds silly, but just living life in an ordinary way like that makes me so happy."

"That sounds so nice," Lucy smiled, "I want that. I guess I sort of have that but it'll be different when he's moved in here and around all the time."

"Yes. Of course, Severus and I were living together a week before the wedding and we saw each other an awful lot even before that, but it's just... different when you know you're married."

Lucy sighed, "I can't wait. Of course I just have to be contrary and prefer a winter wedding to a summer one. And try to be considerate enough to schedule it during break too…oh, I hope that didn't sound like I thought you were inconsiderate with your wedding. I just mean there's going to be so much more going on next year with the Tournament and all."

"No, I understand," Dinah admitted, looking past Lucy towards the door. "Do you mind if I run down to the dungeons? You can join me if you like. I wanted to get my laptop and spend my breaks today working on my Muggle-born survey write-up. I'm just days away from being finished with it."

"Oh, uh," Lucy hesitated, "That's fine. You go ahead and go. I don't think I need to chance running into your husband just yet. I should probably get back to my office hours anyway."

"Probably. Severus is in class all morning, but you never know we might just brush past him." Lucy almost winced at the thought; "He'll get over it, as long as you've promised to stop from now on."

"Well, I'll promise to stop moving his potions though I don't know that I can promise to stop messing with him. I can temper myself from now on though."

"Mm. Just remember, all people have boundaries and I'm allowed to mess with him much more than others are allowed to. I _am_ his wife after all," she smiled.

Lucy giggled, "Yes, you are. It might not always seem like it but I do know people have boundaries. After all, I'm not sure that Snuffles would let you rub his tummy." She walked out with Dinah until they had to separate so Lucy could go back to her office and Dinah down to the dungeons.


	80. Chapter 80

Chapter 80

Lucy decided it would probably be best to hide in her rooms for lunch. She munched on her stew while Dora curled up on the table, hopefully waiting for a few meaty morsels. She probably should have gone back Sunday night and put all the potions back, but that was libel to have made things worse.

She was so very used to doing things right that when she did them wrong she felt horrible. It was as if her father was telling her how stupid, useless, and unwanted she was. Oh, she knew Dinah hadn't meant it like that and really she _had_ gone overboard but she still felt cruddy. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not that she was able to keep working with no one able to tell she was upset.

Lucy figured hiding away for now was the best option. She'd give Severus a few days to calm down. If he wanted to see her before then he knew where she'd be.

* * *

"Hey," Sirius nudged her, after they'd been lying cuddled up on the floor together for awhile Wednesday evening, "what's wrong?"

"Hmm?" she said, lifting her head from his chest, "Nothing. Why?"

"Don't lie to me. You've been decidedly subdued the entire time I've been here."

"It's nothing. Really. Don't…"

"Lucy," he threatened, rolling over and squishing her beneath him. This time it was not at all arousing. "You look like you've lost your best friend. Now out with it."

"I rearranged Severus's potions and I think I may have gone a little overboard," she told him, eyes filling with tears and her voice shaking, "and now he's mad at me. I think Dinah's mad too. She didn't _say_ she was but…"

Sirius chuckled a little and laid his forehead against hers, "Lu if Dinah didn't say she was mad at you I doubt she is. Let's not have another misunderstanding like last time. I'm sure Severus is mad though. He gets mad about everything, so don't fret too much. I suppose," he sighed, "we should probably temper ourselves around the Snapes. They aren't like Fred and George after all."

That got her to smile, "No, thank Merlin. Two of them are enough. I just feel so bad. He's upset with you too over that picture you left them, but you probably don't care so much."

"Well, I'm not going to beat myself up over it but I promise not to take anymore unauthorized close-ups, okay?"

Lucy nodded, feeling better now that Sirius had assured her Dinah wasn't mad. Perhaps tomorrow she'd venture out to apologize to Severus during his office hours.

* * *

Lucy walked very slowly down to Severus's dungeon office after breakfast, dreading each step. As far as she was concerned it didn't take her long enough to reach his open door. She knocked on the door jamb, her fingers hardly touching the wood; making so little sounds she hoped Severus wouldn't hear her. He wasn't likely to see her either, hiding off to the side of the doorway as she was.

"Yes?" he growled.

Great. He _was_ still mad at her. She took a deep breath and though if she could just get through this with out crying she'd be okay. "Can – can I come in?" she asked, poking her head around the corner. Not too far though, in case he wanted to hex her.

"Of course. Dinah is not here, though. Why are you hiding behind the doorframe?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I know," she muttered, "she's in class. I don't want you to hex me. I just…" her breath caught in her throat as she walked fully into his office. Wonderful. She was starting to cry. She was sure _that_ would endear her to Severus. "I wanted to apologize for rearranging your potions," she sniffed. "I can be such an idiot. I know you're both probably extremely mad at me and don't want to see me for like a month or something but…"

He sighed and stood up from his chair. "Sit!" he ordered, snapping his fingers and pointing at the chair across from his desk.

Lucy sat. She didn't need to be told twice. It was starting to feel rather like that time he'd given her detention all those years ago. She took a couple swipes at her eyes since he'd seemed so annoyed at her and just stared at him.

"Now," Severus steepled his fingers in front of him. "What evidence do you have to conclude that we are 'extremely mad' at you and do not wish to see you for a month?"

"Well…" she began. The dratted man was using her logical side to try and combat her emotional side. She was sure of it. She frowned, "Dinah said you were mad and…and neither one of you have talked to me for days. Then there's that picture Sirius took…He said he wouldn't take anymore close-ups without your permission…"

"First off, how were Dinah and I to know you were avoiding us? Exams start next week, we have both been busy, and we assumed that you were the same."

"I am…sort of. My classes are smaller and less intense than yours…I don't pretend to be logical all the time. Maybe I'm part Hufflepuff or something." Okay, so maybe they weren't mad at her. Jumping to the conclusion that everyone hated her and wanted nothing to do with her…yet another thing she could blame her father for.

"Highly likely," he muttered. "Well, I assure you we did not even know that there was a problem. I was angry at first, yes, but..." he frowned, staring at her. "Well, suffice it to say that Dinah and I took care of the problem. It gave us a chance to... sort through our shared possessions together and exchange ideas, which was a reasonably pleasant experience. But don't do it again," his last warning stern, but more…caring then her father ever would have been.

"Of course not," Lucy shook her head. "Not unless you ask me to that is," she grinned. "So, um, the last match is Friday. Sirius is coming…it's the decisive Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw game. Would you and Dinah be interested in coming with us?" she asked, feeling a little shy after her emotional outburst.

He smiled a bit, hesitated, and his smile changed, an eyebrow raised; "I believe that is how it has naturally ended up this year."

Lucy smiled back at him. They _had_ sort of made a habit out of going to the Quidditch games together. "I suppose so. Would you like to come to me or me to come to you? I don't know exactly when Sirius will be showing up, likely tonight sometime…of course we could always meet up someplace on the grounds if you wanted…"

"Perhaps we can meet near the main doors," he offered.

Lucy nodded, quite happy with how this had turned out. "That sounds reasonable. I suppose I should let you get back to your office hours and head to my office in time for mine. Assuming I'm allowed to stand now?" she teased.

"Hmm, yes," he said and she thought she almost saw the ghost of a smile on his face.

She grinned to herself and stood, heading towards the door when Severus stopped her. "Oh, and Lucy?" he said.

She turned back to look at him, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear, "Yes?"

"There is just something that you might want to consider in the future, if you don't mind my pointing it out. You are bold enough to 'mess with me' but not bold enough to accept the consequences of that messing? You should think about that. Because it really makes no sense. Logically, you know," he raised another eyebrow.

"Oh, I know," she said, her eyes sliding away from his, "You can thank Henley for that." She hurried away, trying not to think too much about Severus's words.

* * *

"See I told you they weren't mad at you and there was nothing to get worked up over," Sirius smirked as they walked towards the main doors. Admittedly they were a couple minutes late, but really that was the Snapes' fault for leaving their uncontrollable friends alone.

"Oh, shut up. I overreacted a little; it's not like that's never happened before," she teased, leaning in to her fiancé as the other couple came into view. She waved shyly at Dinah, only a little worried that her friend was going to think she was scared of them.

Dinah waved back; "Hi. Have all your exams ready yet?"

Lucy took a deep breath and let it out. Dinah didn't seem mad. Not that she hadn't believed Severus; it was just nice to see it in person. "Mostly. Essays, essays, and more essays. I suppose that's par for the course when teaching literature though. You?"

"Same here," she smiled; "Sev's decided to enhance the practical portion of his exams and back off on the essays this time, after those twenty-five inch ones he spent all week slaving over. Right?" she turned to her husband, who was scowling, though not at Lucy.

"Yes," he admitted quietly. "However, the practical portion shall be difficult. Extremely difficult."

Lucy giggled, "Well, I don't imagine it could be any worse than his Potions practical. So," she said, leading the group out the door, "who do you think is going to win? We've got a little friendly bet going on here." She lifted her and Sirius's joined hands to indicate the bet was between the two of them.

"Ravenclaw... _must_ win," Severus insisted, frowning.

"Well," she agreed amiably, "Ravenclaw really _has_ had a good year. They're almost guaranteed the cup, but the winner of this specific game is, at this point, a toss-up."

"I don't know how you could bet against Gryffindor, Lu," Sirius said, "If I didn't know better I'd think you _wanted_ Ginny to lose."

She rolled her eyes, knowing he was only teasing, "Well, I don't really want her to lose, I'd just rather Ravenclaw win."

"Shall we see if we can find seats with Mae and Andrew and maybe Tad and Jania again?" Dinah suggested, turning a grin to Sirius; "I recall last time you had a long conversation with the two boys about Quidditch. Two _Slytherins_, mind you."

"Merlin, you're kidding me. I must have been very ill that day."

"Oh, honestly Sirius, you can't be surprised. We _were_ sitting in the Slytherin section after all. Besides those are probably two of the most un-Slytherin-like boys I know. They're very nice."

"They did know quite a bit about Quidditch…" Sirius consented.

Lucy didn't think he was quite as shocked as he'd made himself out to be, but she also knew he didn't find Slytherins to be his favorite people. She turned to Dinah, "We can sit wherever you want. If we can find Mae and Andrew we can sit with them."

They found Mae and Andrew without much trouble, sitting in one of the Ravenclaw stands.

"You're going to make me sit with the Ravenclaws. All those smarties? Why don't we sit in Gryffindor? You've got plenty of connection there. You'd be right at home Lu," Sirius grumbled.

"Despite my Gryffindor connections I _am_ a Ravenclaw. Besides, we said we were going to sit with Mae and Andrew who are sitting in Ravenclaw. And I don't think Severus could survive sitting in Gryffindor anyway."

"Never," Severus growled.

Dinah laughed; "Besides, if he did sit in Gryffindor the team would probably spend so much time staring at him in shock that they would get distracted and lose the game. Surely you don't' want_ that_, Sirius."

Sirius turned pouty for a moment but didn't argue further about sitting in the Ravenclaw stands.

They made their way through the stands to sit behind Mae and Andrew, who looked excited that their professors were joining them again. Interestingly enough Mae was sitting next to Luna Lovegood. Luna, somewhat predictably, was wearing a large hat in the shape of a raven. Severus was unfortunate enough to have sat right behind her.

"Miss Lovegood," he snarled; "Five points from Ravenclaw for obstructing the view of others."

"Oh, but I believe my hat is regulation height, Professor Snape," Luna murmured, turning her head to watch them; "But I suppose I shall lose the points either way."

"Sorry, Luna," Dinah apologized.

She shook her head, smiling vaguely; "Oh, that's quite all right, Professor Samson. I know how things are."

Severus muttered something to Dinah that Lucy didn't catch.

"No!" she retorted. "You're taller than me and I'm certain you can see fine. Slytherin's not even playing." It sounded like Severus wanted to switch seats with his wife.

"I still have a greater vested interest in this game than you do, Miss 'I Don't Care Who Wins'," he retorted.

"I'm staying in my seat, Severus," she said firmly, and with that the argument was over.

"Would you like me to sit _on_ Sirius so you can have my seat? Luna's not doing anything wrong. You'll notice no one else sat directly behind her. We were the idiots who didn't take note," Lucy offered, half hoping Severus would take her up on her suggestion.

"That seems rather complicated," Severus grumbled.

"Not too complicated, just slightly inappropriate. Of course we'd be doing far less then those two over there," she pointed to a Ravenclaw couple intertwined in what looked like a rather complicated manner.

Severus glowered at them and shot out of his seat. "I shall remove points from-" he began, starting to march off, but Dinah cut him off with a grasp of his arm.

"Severus. No. You do not need to trudge through this crowd of people simply to remove points from those students. You might get stuck and never find your way back as busy as it is today. This isn't the Yule Ball, after all. Sit back down."

He growled, but obeyed; "Why must I listen to you?"

"Because what I said makes sense?"

"Hardly," he snorted, glaring off at those students.

Lucy giggled, "Here," she said, standing on her seat and shooting some gently prodding sparks at the younger couple with her wand, "Do you two mind taking a breather?" she shouted to be heard over the crowd.

"Sorry, Professor," the boy called, blushing.

"Yeah, sorry," the girl added.

Lucy just smiled and said thank you before sitting back down. "Is that better?" she asked Severus.

"Point removal would be preferable, but I suppose so," he muttered reply.

"Hush you two. They're releasing the Quaffle," Sirius said, staring intently at the pitch.

Lucy shook her head and curled up into his side. This was how it always should have been, she thought; happy, watching Quidditch matches and making silly bets on them. They would have had this so much sooner if it hadn't been for Bellatrix…and her father, Henley. He'd ruined so much in her life; she was determined not to let him ruin this too.

Sirius practically leapt out of his seat when Gryffindor scored early in the game. Lucy scowled, but reminded herself that even if Gryffindor did win Ravenclaw would most likely still get the cup. Besides, she thought, she'd probably enjoy making good on their bet anyway. After all, Hogsmeade House did have curtains on the windows…

"Infernal Ravenclaw Keeper!" Severus growled at the pitch; "That could have been saved easily."

"Oh," Luna said, airily, "I think he did an excellent job of staying on his broom. Why with all the wrackspurts around his head…"

Severus's eye roll was so dramatic and exaggerated that it was quite laughable. And laughing is just what Dinah was doing.

Lucy giggled too. By this point in the year she was fairly used to Luna's…eccentricities. "Gryffindor has good Chasers," she said as Severus fumed a little more at Gryffindor's early score.

The game went back and forth; Gryffindor edging out Ravenclaw only to have Ravenclaw come right back. As soon as the Seekers took off after the snitch everyone tensed. Lucy's nails were probably going to leave marks in Sirius's knee and he was practically crushing her shoulders as the Ravenclaw seeker barely edged out Ginny to capture the snitch.

Sirius scowled as Lucy jumped up, cheering with the rest of the section. Well, most of the section anyway. Severus was growling something and Dinah seemed to be shaking her hand around.

"Well, at least it was an exciting game," Dinah offered.

"Yes, it was," Lucy breathed before turning to her fiancé and shouting, "Ha! Ravenclaw wins and I win! A whole weekend with the Weasleys!"

"Thrilling," Sirius said, looking as if he felt the exact opposite.

"Oh, whatever, you like them. Besides the only one of the kids home is Ron, unless Fred and George stop by but it's not like we're going to be inundated with well-meaning suffocation."

"It's not them I'm worried about. It's the weekend of talking about dresses and flowers and invitations and cake and favors and whatever else you can think of that I'm to be barred from. I'll be bored out of my mind and stuck in my own lonely bedroom."

"If that's all you're worried about then you can share with Ron," she teased, kissing his forehead.

Dinah and Severus must have been having their own conversation because Lucy next heard, ""Yes, well, I think the only reason that Gryffindor and Slytherin are always the ones winning these things is because it matters to them so much more than the other houses. They make such a deal of it."

"And you suggest we not do that," Severus said.

When Lucy turned to the other couple she saw Dinah shrug, grinning; "I offer no answers. Only questions and ideas."

"Typical," her husband snorted, but offered her a slight smile.

"They win because they spend more time _practicing_," Sirius said, apparently having heard enough of the conversation to make such a remark. "The other two Houses don't spend as much time on the pitch. At least that was my experience while here. James was down here practicing as much as he could."

"Endlessly," Severus agreed, rolling his eyes; "This year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw did practice more than usual, though. I'll give them that."

"And it paid off," Lucy said, still grinning like an idiot.

"That it did," Dinah agreed; "The students all seem to be happy about it, too," she chuckled at Luna's raven-shaped hat which was now cawing as though it were alive while the girl clapped demurely along with her fellow students.

Mae giggled; "Professor Samson, I've been studying really hard for your exam but I had a couple of really important questions I needed to ask you! Will you have normal office hours next week?"

"Yes," Dinah smiled, "Your exam is Wednesday, right? You can come to my office during my normal office hours any time before that."

"Great! Thank you!" Mae and Andrew shuffled out along with Luna who was chatting amiably with them as Mae complimented her bizarre hat.

Dinah laughed; "It's nice to see Luna with the first years."

"If she convinces Mae and Andrew that there are such things as wrackspurts and crumple-horned snorkacks I'm afraid I'll have to take away more points," Severus grumbled, but nodded.

Lucy giggled, "Well, I hate to just take off on you guys but I promised Aunt Molly we'd be over after the match."

"You told her we were coming _before_ you won the bet?" Sirius asked, incredulous.

"Of course. I was very confident," Lucy turned to look back at the other couple for a moment, "Before I forget, do you think I might come over one evening? I've got some things I wanted to ask Severus. I started to last Thursday but that wasn't the right time and we've all been busy since then…Nothing life or death, I promise."

"You're welcome to come, certainly. Just let us know when," Dinah said after Severus nodded.

"All right. Thanks! We'll see you later then," she said, pulling Sirius out of his seat, "Have a nice weekend," she waved as they went their separate ways.


	81. Chapter 81

A/N: This is going to be a long chapter :-)

* * *

Chapter 81

"So, Ravenclaw won then?" Molly asked as they approached the front door of the Burrow.

Lucy grinned at her aunt, "Yes, but Ginny put up an amazing performance, I promise."

"Good, good," she said, bustling the couple into the house. "Sirius," she said, looking at him, "Ron and Harry are upstairs, just got home from work, if you want to see them."

"Thanks, Molly," Sirius said, taking off upstairs to see his godson and friend.

Lucy chuckled, shaking her head, "He didn't want to come but now that he's got some playmates…" Molly just looked at her. "Too much potential female talk, for him I think."

Her aunt smiled and shook her head, leading Lucy into the living room where they sat on the couch together.

"Is Dad going to be home soon?" Lucy asked, laying her head on Molly's shoulder. She'd been calling her uncle Dad since around the age of twelve so Aunt Molly knew she wasn't talking about Henley.

"He should be along in an hour or so. Why?"

Lucy shrugged, "I just wanted to ask him something. So," she sighed, "I found a dress."

"Oh?" She could almost feel Molly's disappointment.

"Well, maybe, I don't know. I went dress shopping with a colleague about two weeks ago, for her not me, and I looked around and I might have found one. I don't know," she repeated.

"Did you like it?" Molly asked, rubbing Lucy's back like she used to when her niece was little.

"Yes," Lucy whispered, "then I thought about how you and Mum should be there and it just didn't seem right. I don't know," she shrugged again; "Looking back there's things about the dress that I'm not in love with. Maybe I was just caught up in the moment or something."

"Maybe. We'll make some time this summer to go back to the store and look at it again, okay? We can look at other dresses and stores too. Until then don't worry about it. Why don't we work on some of the stuff we can deal with this weekend? Have you picked the location yet, dear?"

"Hogwarts grounds. We'd have the reception in the Great Hall and include the students. A little unconventional I know, but we both felt more at home there then in our own homes as children. The house elves will take care of the food…Hermione probably won't like that and Sirius isn't looking forward to going to the kitchens and seeing Kreacher but it is what it is."

Molly nodded, knowing Hermione's penchant for freeing house elves all over. "What about a date? I assume you're planning this around the school year and any functions the school might have."

"Yes. It's going to be December 18th. I've got to consult with a florist about what flowers would be good for a winter wedding but I'm determined to have some dogwood and foxglove in my bouquet. I know foxglove is poisonous," she said, when Molly gave her an alarmed look, "but Dinah is supposed to ask Severus if he knows a spell to make them…not deadly."

"Ginny mentioned those two were quite close in her last letter."

"Yes," Lucy grinned, lifting her head off of her aunt's shoulder. "Can I let you in on a secret? They're married."

"What?" three voices asked, sounding stunned.

"It's true," Sirius said from the stairs, stuck behind a shocked Harry and Ron, "We were there."

"You were…" Harry trailed off, looking up at his godfather.

"Yes. Snape and I tolerate each other. Besides Lucy and Dinah spend so much time together anymore it'd be impossible to be with Lucy and not be able to be in the same room with the man."

"What's all this?" asked a new voice.

"Dad!" Lucy grinned, getting up and hugging her uncle who was more like her father.

Arthur chuckled, "Well, hello there. You look chipper."

She shrugged, "Just happy. And Ravenclaw beat Gryffindor for the Cup today," she giggled at the groans from the males in her life. "Anyway," she said, feeling awkward for asking this in front of everyone but she'd feel more awkward asking him to step outside, "I was wondering…we've been figuring out some wedding stuff and…I was hoping…would you, maybe, walk me down the aisle?"

"Lucy," Arthur said, looking her in the eye, "there's no maybe about it. I'd be more than happy to do that for you."

"Oh!" Molly gasped, wiping at her eyes, "I think I'll just go get dinner ready. It should only take a few minutes," she said, bustling out of the room.

Lucy grinned. Everything in the Weasley household seemed to be back to normal after the turmoil of the last couple years.

* * *

Lucy stroked Dora's head after a day spent giving and grading exams. "Well," she asked her cat, "How would you like to go visit Godric? I assume you're allowed down there now the Severus has cat-proofed the dungeon."

Dora meowed and hopped up onto Lucy's lap, which she took as a yes. With an exaggerated groan, Lucy rose from the couch, lifting Dora in her arms as she did so. Together they made their way down to the dungeons and Severus's closed office door. She knocked, not wanting to just walk in for a number of reasons. Rudeness and the possibility of walking in on something she didn't want to see top among them.

"Who is it?" she could hear Severus ask. He didn't sound annoyed but she wasn't sure that meant anything.

"Lucy," she called back, "I was just wondering if now would be a good time for those questions I mentioned earlier?"

"Oh, come in," Dinah answered, making Lucy glad she hadn't walked in.

"Hi," she said, walking in, and seeing Dinah sitting in front of Severus on his desk, "I brought Dora with me. I hope that's okay?"

"Put her in the living area," Severus instructed, opening the door to their living area with his wand. "They do not need to be walking over all of my important papers or crawling on this desk."

"All right," she said, dumping Dora in the other room and quickly closing the door. She thought her cat looked rather peeved that she hadn't gotten to cuddle with Severus but that was too bad. "So, um," she started, awkwardly sitting in the chair on the opposite side of his desk, "what's that?" she indicated a large stack of very white and uniform papers.

"Oh!" Dinah turned to more easily talk to Lucy; "It's about the Muggle-born surveys. I finished the analysis this morning and Sev and I were going through them together. Would you like a copy to look at some time?"

"That'd be great!" Lucy enthused. She was eager to find out what Dinah had discovered, though she wasn't sure if she'd be able to use the information at all. Still, it could prove helpful. "I might save it and read it over the summer. It'll give me something to focus on besides wedding stuff. We've barely started and I've already sworn I'm not doing a seating chart; it's just too complicated."

Dinah laughed; "I told Severus a while ago that I don't envy those of you who have to organize such complicated weddings at all. Ours was so simple and it was still such a hassle. But I don't think seating charts are necessary. Maybe you don't have to do more than just designate tables for close relatives or friends."

Lucy shook her head, "That's probably what we'll end up doing. I mean just inviting the Weasleys alone is like twenty people. Assuming they all bring dates that is, though Charlie probably won't. I wonder if Victoire will sit well enough to be a flower girl by then. Aww, and Teddy could be the ring bearer…Don't mind me," she said, waving her hand, "this is just the start I'm sure."

"I'm sure. If I had gotten married younger I would probably have wanted to go that route… though surely Severus would have objected and we would have met somewhere in the middle."

"All hypothetical in the first place," Severus smiled slightly; "I suppose were we younger I would not have begrudged you a flower girl or a ring bearer. I _did_, you recall, offer you whatever you wanted in the first place."

"Yes, but I didn't want all that," she smiled, settling into the chair next to her husband.

"Men," Lucy sighed, "Is that all they can ever say? 'Whatever you want'. I swear its Sirius's new catchphrase or something. Which reminds me…did Dinah ask you about the whole foxglove issue?"

"Yes, and if you _must_ alter a perfectly good poison ingredient I suppose I can come up with a spell for you," Severus said, looking none to pleased.

"Only a couple I promise and only because I'd rather not be poisoned on my wedding day." Lucy hesitated for a few moments before saying, "So, I guess I should just ask what I came to ask so you guys can get back to whatever it is you were doing when I got here…Just so I'm clear I don't mean for anything to sound like I'm accusing you of something. I don't think you, personally, did anything wrong in regards to this. I just don't happen to know any other former Death Eaters…"

"Well, what then?" Severus prodded when she didn't continue.

"A couple things really," she started, her gaze drifting off to the side, not for the same reasons as it would have a couple months ago, but because she was thinking, "Didn't any of you…any of the Death Eaters…didn't they know he wasn't one? I mean I understand why none of them would have stood up and publicly said they knew he wasn't but…I mean shouldn't _someone_ have known?"

Severus snorted, but his tone remained casual. Well, as casual as it ever was anyway; "Firstly, I assume by 'he' you are referring to Sirius? And by 'the one' you are implying the person who betrayed James and Lily Potter? A bit more specificity in your questions would be helpful."

She wasn't sure but that might have been the first time she'd heard Severus call James by his name. "Sorry, yes. I do mean Sirius and the one who betrayed James and Lily…and Harry too I suppose."

"Well, then," Severus's tone was all business; "Clearly, it is possible that as you say _someone _knew but what makes you believe that I would know who knew if I did not know myself?" His new tone made Lucy wonder if she'd made the right decision in asking him.

"Severus," Dinah murmured, placing a hand on his shoulder and glancing at her friend.

Severus sighed, his gaze flicking to Dinah's before settling back on Lucy. "Well, get on with it. If you're ready for my explanation I shall attempt to make everything clear to you, or as clear as I can possibly make it given my _limited _knowledge."

Lucy nodded, gathering her courage, "Severus, I understand you don't know everything about it. I'm not expecting a breakdown of V-Voldemort's organization. I just need to try and understand." She hesitated again, but only for a moment, "Part of the reason I reacted the way I did when Sirius…died was because I didn't understand _why_. I…I want to understand if I can."

Severus sighed; "Lucy, what happened with Sirius was unfortunate but sometimes there is no _why_. There is no legitimately good reason why bad things happen. They simply do. However, with our knowledge after the fact we see that it was not _supposed_ to happen, do we not? That he was reborn means that his death was unnatural and unnecessary. So yes, it was not fair. You had every right to believe that it was not fair… even _wrong_," he finished, again using logic, something he'd learned could keep her from becoming overly emotional.

"I know," she nodded, "and I appreciate you saying that. Maybe love is blind or I'm just incredibly stupid, but I just don't get how anyone who _knew_ him could believe he would have betrayed his best friend like that." She held a hand up when Dinah gave her a sharp look, "Believe me I intend to ask Remus the same question. He _liked_ Sirius and still believed that of him. I don't think a handful of people believing him innocent would have kept him out of Azkaban, that's not what I'm talking about. Besides he's told me he went after Peter with the intent to kill or seriously maim him."

"If Remus believed it of him I don't see why you should be surprised that I did," Severus said carefully. "After all, I was not exactly as – _affectionate_ – towards Sirius as Remus was. And there were apparently a good number of witnesses. And I do not think anyone believed Wormtail would do the deed either, but he _did_. And after all, and I do not mean to make this accusatory either, but I did tend to think of the time Sirius attempted to have me killed, albeit indirectly and thoughtlessly, as my own personal evidence of what I thought he was capable of."

Lucy started chewing her lip somewhere in the middle of his speech but paused for a bit to say, "I'm not surprised that you believed that. I know he was and is capable of killing Peter and you did have your reasons for believing he did it. What I find more surprising is that people really believed he betrayed James. I mean I kind of get it I suppose. It would be logical to assume he was their secret-keeper but," she shrugged, "didn't that logic ever war with reason? The assumption that he was secret-keeper versus his loyalty to his friends? I don't really expect you to have an answer for that. I'm not sure what I expected to get out of this I just knew I had to ask."

"Well, as you say, I cannot answer that. And even if certain Death Eaters knew about Wormtail's involvement at the time he committed the act, they were all perfectly pleased to have someone else be accused of the crime. As a matter of fact the Dark Lord – Voldemort," he corrected himself; "probably planned it that way. Or at least, he was very glad that circumstances ended up as they did."

"Lucy," Dinah said, "If we've learned anything this year is that people never respond properly to things. Nobody, as I understand it, _wanted _to believe that he betrayed James and they were all shocked and said things like 'I can't believe' or 'I never would have expected that_ Sirius_ would', but they all accepted it anyway. Even Dumbledore seemed to have believed it at first. It's not _right_, but there it is."

"I suppose that's true," Lucy conceded, "I just…like to try and understand. Thanks for being willing to put up with me and my questions."

Severus nodded; "For what it's worth, I think it's unlikely any Death Eaters knew at all. There would have been no reason for Voldemort to tell them of his plan. In fact, it would probably have been unwise to confide in anyone but Peter Pettigrew himself for the sake of ensuring that the mission went through without flaw. Myself for example," he paused for a moment, looking uneasy before continuing. "I was quite young at the time and while I was one of his more trusted Death Eaters I did not hold the same status I held when he returned and realized I had both gained power and, supposedly, Dumbledore's trust. Yes, I conveyed the prophecy to him, but when I asked him to spare Lily's life he did not…take it well."

Lucy shuddered to think of the reaction Severus had gotten. Fortunately for her, she'd never had to directly confront the man many had called the Dark Lord. The stories she'd heard from those who had and the testimonies of 'former' Death Eaters she'd read were enough to make her feel sorry for anyone who'd gotten on Voldemort's bad side. At least if he didn't like you death came quick…

"In that case," Severus continued, "though he did offer me a small 'reward' in giving Lily the opportunity to step aside without being killed, I think he would not have wanted me to know his specific plans, in case I tried to interfere. The other Death Eaters would have been less of a risk in that department but why tell them if he didn't have to? As I understand it, he only convinced Pettigrew to join him and betray the Potters immediately before the act was commenced. At least, it's what I got from Wormtail's occasional babbling while I was forced to live with him."

"Peter was weak. The Marauders knew that. That's why they took care of him, helped him." She shook her head, "It makes me wonder why Sirius ever thought he'd be a safe choice for the Potters secret-keeper. I am sorry that you had to go through all that though. It wasn't fair that any of that was asked of you."

"That is… appreciated," Severus responded, looking as if he was trying to smile, an unfamiliar expression for him. "And I suppose now that you bring it to my attention it was also not fair that Sirius had to be…" he paused, as if searching for the right words; "'mistrusted' by everyone he knew. It is not an enjoyable thing, as we all have experienced from time to time, being rejected by what seems like the whole world. Granted, now he has you to change that. He would be pleased, I'm sure, that you came here today trying so hard to get a bizarre form of 'justice' for him. You might talk to him about it. Simply a suggestion."

Dinah nodded, looking as if she thought that was the most brilliant thing Severus had ever said. "Even though he didn't have you back then, he has you now. We can't erase the past, but we can look towards the future. Sorry, that probably sounds idealistic," she grinned and Severus chuckled.

Lucy giggled, "If he'd had me back then he'd probably have been arrested for kidnapping at the very least. I was eight," she clarified when Dinah looked a little confused. "It's true though. Things are easier when there's someone there ready to defend you against anything."

"We've all needed that, and we all have it now," Dinah said. "So did you have any further questions? You could stay for dinner if you wanted, since our cats are already doing who-knows-what in there," she gestured at the door.

"I'm not sure we want to know what those two are up to," Lucy grinned, "but no, no more questions. I think I covered everything. Dinner would be nice; as long as you're sure I'm not intruding. I wouldn't be offended. I'm perfectly capable of going up to the Great Hall and attempting to go through my catalogue of invitation samples in front of Slughorn."

"We were just about to break for dinner anyway, so no, you're not intruding. Right?" Dinah asked her husband.

He shrugged; "I have no problem with it."

"Wonderful," she said standing, ready to follow them to their table. "How have your exams gone so far? I only had my third and fifth years today. That means I don't have to deal with Septimus yelling in class anymore, but I don't get to see Tad and Jania anymore either."

Dinah stood from her own chair along with Severus; "I had both chunks of fourth years today. The seventh years are taking the N.E.W.T… I already talked to Minerva about making the N.E.W.T.s and O.W.L.s for the Muggle Studies course optional next year, to decrease the hostility some of the students have towards it." She led the trio into the living area and closed the door. Maybe she was trying to prevent their elusive cats from escaping, Lucy thought.

"Mmm. I've been considering talking about the possibility of starting O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s in my classes, as an option. As I understand it Dumbledore had to do a lot of lobbying to get the Board of Governors to even agree to allowing the class in the first place," she said, settling down at the table.

Dinah sighed, the dinner of soup, salad, and bread appearing before them, "I'll be dealing with them all over the place over the next year. With the making tests optional thing and the whole 'game night' thing. Did I tell you about that?"

Lucy thought back through their conversations, trying to remember if Dinah had mentioned such a thing, "I think you mentioned wanting to do _something_ to get all the houses to interact but I don't think you ever said exactly what you were thinking."

Dinah dumped dressing on her salad and stole some of those offensive green olives from Severus's plate; "Well, it's going to – hopefully – be on Wednesdays after dinner in the library, and two students per house will be required to sit together for two hours and do whatever they want, as long as they're socializing. I call it a 'game night' but they don't have to play games. It just makes it sound more fun."

Ladling some chicken noodle soup into her bowl, Lucy thought it funny how Dinah had picked the one night she was almost guaranteed to be busy. Of course, who knew what next year would bring. "I'd love to help if you need it. Then again Wednesdays…" she grinned, "Don't worry about it though. These get-togethers won't take all night and even if they did it wouldn't be that big of a deal. You know you should talk to Agrona and Derwent. I've seen them hanging out with Eloise and Fin from Hufflepuff a lot. I'm sure they'd be willing to help you out if you need it."

"Well, we'll see if it gets approved first, but yeah I'm sure I'll talk to them. There are a few other students who already associate between houses a lot that I'll try to get involved as well. Archie, Kathleen, and Terrence for example." At Severus's snort she grinned and told Lucy; "They ran into us right when we got turned back into adults again. Severus told them in no uncertain terms that if they let anybody know about the youthening reversal they were essentially doomed."

Lucy laughed, "Oh, I can just picture that. Classic Severus Snape threatening doom for the student so terrible that their great-grandchildren will feel the repercussions. I seem to remember getting a similar threat when you gave me that detention. So what do you think? Are my future children going to be feeling your wrath for my transgressions?"

"Well, we shall have to see when you have them, shan't we?" Severus's tone was casual as he snatched an olive back from Dinah.

"I suppose," Lucy murmured, sipping her water, "It'll be roughly eleven years and nine months after December 18th at least before we find out. We've been very careful about using _Caricasium_," she admitted, blushing lightly.

Dinah smiled, sipping her own water as Severus raised an eyebrow; "I see. That's good that you finally took my advice to heart, then…" She playfully took a tomato from her husband's salad.

He sighed and dropped his fork; "Perhaps we should start eating from a collective plate?"

She giggled; "No, I just like messing with you," and he sighed again.

Lucy smiled, "Sirius and I sometimes share a plate. We usually end up having two helpings so I guess it's sort of pointless to share but it's nice."

"That's nice. But I think if Severus and I shared a plate he wouldn't get to eat anything."

"As it is I don't get to eat anything," he took his tomato back, and she snatched a chick pea in retaliation.

"Perhaps you just need to develop some food aggression," Lucy suggested, "We have, on occasion, had disagreements over who gets to eat first…in our animagus forms of course."

"That must be something to see," Dinah said, stabbing all of her olives onto her fork.

"Dinah," Severus said suddenly, pushing his salad plate aside, "All this talk of Wormtail, reminds me that we need to decide on a date to go to Spinner's End. The weekend after we go home - the Saturday is June 19 I believe - does that sound agreeable to you?"

Dinah smiled, finished chewing her olives, and nodded; "That works well. And at least then we'll _half_ get to sleep in my house before we're 'married'."

He laughed; "I suppose, if that's the way you'd like to look at it."

"Um," Lucy said, scratching her head after buttering her bread, "Aren't you two already married? Or did I dream all that up?"

Dinah giggled; "Yes, we are. We're married in the wizarding world and in our hearts – all right, I know that sounds cheesy!" she retorted when Severus smirked; "But we're not legally married in the Muggle world. On my driver's license, for example, I'm still Dinah Samson. And since I live so much of my life over there I want to change my name and all that. So we're going to Severus's place to dig up his old Muggle birth certificate and get him legal citizenship!" she finished.

"Oh, well that makes sense," Lucy said, thinking about what Dinah said for a moment and turning to Severus, "So you were born in a Muggle hospital then? You can tell me I'm being nosey if you want. I'm just trying to understand again. I mean, as far as I know, Harry wasn't born in a Muggle hospital and he existed to them. Tonks wasn't born in a Muggle hospital either…but then she doesn't spend time in the Muggle world much so I'm not sure if she has legal status there…"

Severus frowned and Lucy wondered if he was going to tell her she was a nosey git; "Potter was not born there but he was given to the Dursley's at a young enough age where it would have been easy enough to rectify the situation even without the certificate. After all, one cannot simply deny a baby's existence. I am sure a new certificate would be constructed. With an adult I imagine it would be much more difficult, and although using Confundus with effort might work, it is easier to simply find my certificate. And yes, I was born in a Muggle hospital. My father would never have allowed my mother to give birth in the wizarding world. He despised it."

"Ah," Lucy said, feeling a bit awkward now, "that's true enough I suppose. Most wizarding families opt for home births I think. Aunt Molly did with all her kids except Bill and the twins. According to Slughorn the Blacks go the more dignified route of being sedated and having the baby extracted. I don't know how; he didn't go into details."

"The things that man will come up with as conversation pieces," Dinah sighed, finishing her salad and moving on to soup.

"Yes," Lucy said, doing the opposite of the Snapes and finishing her soup to move on to her salad. "I swear if I have to hear one more story about Regulus…I think Regulus got in over his head and tried to do right in the end, but Slughorn makes him out to be some sort of rock star. His intentions are good and he doesn't mean any harm but…"

"Regulus associated with a different group than the rest of us, for the most part," Severus said casually, finishing off his soup; "His group was tamer, though yes, still very interested in the Dark Arts. I suspect Slughorn sees a lot of himself in Regulus, being a Slytherin and expected to join the Death Eaters due to birth and house alone, but having the strength to ultimately resist it, which Slughorn tries to do but always ends up doing so in a semi-cowardly manner. Still, it makes sense that he would admire those traits. He wishes he could have done something as 'noble' as Regulus did, I would expect."

Lucy nodded, pushing her half eaten salad away, "That makes sense. I wish I could have known Regulus. Maybe then…" she sighed, not really sure where she'd been going with that, "Well, I should be going. Thank you again. I'm sure it wasn't the most comfortable of subjects for you to talk about and I do appreciate it."

Severus grunted acknowledgment and Dinah smiled; "No problem. Thank you for joining us for dinner. Oh, and don't forget to find Dora before you leave. I mean, I suppose she can stay but I think Severus-"

"One cat is enough, thank you. It's bad enough that we have to buy a snake…" he grumbled.

"It's just as well," Lucy grinned, "If we allow them too much interaction we're just increasing our odds of kittens. I don't think it's the right time of the month for Dora, so to speak, but you never know. Do one of you want to check the bedroom? As Dinah noted once, my cat does like to hide under beds…" Lucy said, moving from her chair to her hands and knees, searching for her wayward cat.

"I'll go," Dinah offered, laughing. Probably at Lucy's current position. She'd admit crawling on the floor with your butt in the air wasn't very dignified but it got the job done. You check the bathroom and closets, Sev. You don't need to crawl around for those places."

She heard Dinah go into the bedroom and, after checking the closets, Severus escaped to the bathroom. Not finding her cat under any tables or chairs, Lucy moved to check out the space behind the couch, if it was big enough for a human it was certainly big enough for a cat to fit.

"_Lumos_," she muttered, finding it rather too dark behind the couch to see things properly. When her wand lit up the space she saw that the conspicuous grey lump she'd thought was her cat was actually…something she didn't want to investigate closer.

"Better not let Severus catch you crawling around under the _potion cupboards_ when he comes back, Lucy," Dinah teased, apparently having finished checking the bedroom already.

Lucy jumped up, both at the sound of Dinah's voice and the mention of the potions she was not to touch, knocking her head into said potions cupboard when she did so. "Tonks," she muttered, thinking of how her clumsy friend would have enjoyed this little scene.

"Hmm?" Dinah asked, either not having heard her or, more likely, just confused.

"Tonks," Lucy said, pointing to her head then the cupboard, "She's pretty clumsy. It must be catching," she smiling to show her friend she was only joking.

Dinah laughed; "Ah. Well, I_ did_ startle you. I guess you thought that pile of blankets was Dora?" she pointed to the grey lump Lucy hadn't wanted to investigate.

"Uh, maybe," Lucy admitted, feeling herself blush a little in embarrassment.

"Well, here's your cat. Your head okay?" she handed Dora over as Lucy stood up.

"I'll have a headache I'm sure but it's not nearly as bad as getting hit with a rock," Lucy said, half-teasing and cuddling her cat.

Dinah frowned, "I guess not…"

"You found the cat, then," Severus said, stomping out of the bathroom.

"Yes, she and Godric were investigating each other rather thoroughly when I did. Better watch for any weird signs from Dora over the next few weeks," Dinah told Lucy, grinning.

Lucy shook her head and looked down at her cat, "You, missy, are going to get yourself into trouble. Severus doesn't want _one_ cat. I doubt he'd be thrilled with kittens."

"Your cat is the female. _You_ get the kittens," Severus retorted.

"Oh, sure, but will your wife be able to resist their cuteness?" Lucy grinned.

"We might have to get just _one_," Dinah admitted, sidling up to her husband and grabbing his arm.

Lucy giggled at the expression on Severus's face. "Well, I should leave you guys in peace then. And I'll let you know if we're to be expecting grand-kittens," she said, heading to the door.

"Sounds good," Dinah walked Lucy to the door and bid her farewell before closing it behind her.

* * *

A/N: So I normally don't beg for reviews _but_ it's been a really long time since I've gotten one so...please review :-P


	82. Chapter 82

A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews Sam and MysteryGirl! I understand about not reviewing every chapter, especially if you don't have much to say besides 'love it!' or some such, but you guys really did make my day :-P It's good to hear your doing things right every so often. Your guys's praise made me blush :-). Sam, there's going be more Lucy/Sirius interactions for sure, because I think they're super cute too and I don't care if it's corny :-) Plus I'm currently working on a sequel here so it's pretty much guaranteed that they'll have more interactions on their own. By the way I don't have to ignore your idea about a 'prequel' 'cause I have one of those in the works too! There's not much to it right now since I'm only working on it when the mood strikes but rest assured I'll put it up eventually. MysteryGirl I don't think that's a weird request at all. I haven't really thought about writing something focusing on those guys but it's an intriguing idea. I'll consider it and pass the idea along to animalwriter too. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

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Chapter 82

"Tell me something," Lucy said, over dessert Wednesday evening, "Why is it people, even those who knew you well, were so quick to believe you'd betray your best friend?"

"Where'd that come from?" Sirius asked, putting down his ice cream spoon and staring at her.

"I asked Severus the other day. I'm just trying to figure out how everyone could apparently believe that about you. I mean I could never believe something like that about Tonks."

"Yes, you could," Sirius tried to tell her. When she shook her head in denial he repeated, "Yes, you could. If something like that happened to Tonks you'd ask her why or what happened, not tell her you didn't believe she had anything to do with it. As for Remus," he gave her a look that said 'I know what you're thinking' when she started to protest. "I went after Peter with the intent to kill him. I've told you that. Remus guessed that. He would have done the same thing. He did think it was a little odd that the whole thing happened the way it did _but_," he emphasized as Lucy made to interrupt him again, "he also knew I could be rash and impulsive with a tendency to overreact. Luckily I've matured since then."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Sure you have. Anyway that doesn't explain why he thought you'd betray James and Lily. I still intend to ask him."

"I'm sure he's really busy right now Lu. He's got a lot on his mind. He just started a new job in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and Tonks is getting too big to work and then there's Teddy…"

"All the more reason to visit. I didn't get to see Tonks at all last time she was pregnant and I've barely seen her this time. Let's go visit them! The weekend Hogwarts lets out. I can talk to Remus…visit with Tonks…play with Teddy," she grinned.

Sirius rolled his eyes and shook his head, "You just want to go for the kid. Tonks wasn't kidding when she said you'd want a litter was she?" There was nothing but warmth in his tone. He wanted kids too and even though he'd just referred to Teddy as 'kid' she knew he loved the little boy nearly as much as she did.

"Well," Lucy blushed, "maybe not a litter but I hated being an only child. I mean it was fine when Mum was alive and my cousins are more like siblings but it would have been nice to have someone around all the time. Somebody to talk to…"

Sirius nodded, "Maybe if Regulus and I had been closer…"

"Sirius don't," she said, a little shocked that he was expressing regret over his brother. She'd never heard him express anything but anger and disappointment before. "He made his decisions. No one else. Your involvement probably would have just tortured him more. He tried his best to make up for it in the end and I'm sure he's glad you're doing so well."

"So optimistic," he grinned, "are you sure you belong in Ravenclaw?"

"Oh, yes. Ravenclaws can be optimistic too you know. Though maybe I've got a little Hufflepuff in me too," Lucy said, coming around to sit in his lap.

"Mmm, I was thinking Gryffindor," he murmured, bending down to nibble on her neck, "How would you feel about practicing making that litter of yours?"

"I think that sounds like a really good idea."

* * *

Lucy sighed, sitting at her end of the table during the End of Year Feast. She was glad to have made it through her first year of teaching but she was going to miss most of her students. Slughorn seemed too antsy to talk about her impending marriage, anticipating a Slytherin win for the House Cup.

Minerva, at the Headmistress's spot, stood, clearing her throat before using her wand to magnify her voice. "Now, now, everyone, settle down! Thank you, Muggle-borns for filling out Professor Sasmson's post-year survey in a timely manner. I am sure the results will be most intriguing, and you will hear all about them at the beginning of next year."

In her head Lucy corrected Minerva's use of 'Professor Samson'. She was excited to see the results of Dinah's original survey and wondered if this new one would show any differences. Hopefully it wouldn't take all year for Dinah to finish this one up.

"And now," Minerva said, glancing around at the green and silver decorations that littered the Great Hall, "the moment you have all been waiting for. The announcement of this year's House Cup winner! In fourth place, with two-hundred and sixty-seven points, we have Hufflepuff!"

Lucy clapped politely along with everyone else. Normally Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fought for third place. Fought being used in a rather loose sense as neither House much cared about winning the Cup. Oh, sure they'd like to win but they didn't care about it nearly as much as Gryffindor or Slytherin.

"In third place," Minerva continued, her mouth twitching a little before she shrugged; "We have Gryffindor with two-hundred and eighty-three points!"

Gryffindor's table looked a bit glum and Lucy made sure to shoot Ginny and Hermione an 'I'm sorry' face. She was only partially sorry though since Gryffindor being in third place meant her own House was in the top half of the school this year.

"Coming in second place this year, with three-hundred and twenty-two points… Ravenclaw!" Minerva continued.

This time Lucy clapped more intensely, proud of her House's achievements this year. Winning the House Cup too would have been nice, but she was willing to settle for one of the two Cups available for winning.

"And this year's House Cup winner is…" there was silence as the Hall waited for Minerva to finish her announcement; "Slytherin with three-hundred and fifty-six points!"

All the Slytherins jumped up from their table, clapping, cheering and making a big fuss, which Lucy understood because if it had been her she'd have been doing the same thing. She wouldn't begrudge them their joy. They were overjoyed to have won the House Cup and also to be going home. She was just the weird kid who liked school. She couldn't stop from giggling over Agrona and Derwent's celebration though. The two were locked together in an embrace not at all suited to the school setting. In that moment she could even be happy for the cheaters from earlier who looked thrilled and almost like they'd learned their lesson. Even Septimus appeared happy for once.

At the other end of the table Dinah stood next to her husband, clapping with enthusiasm, probably proud of the accomplishments Slytherin had gained this year. Lucy didn't have a chance to stand on her own and was yanked up out of her seat by an overly enthusiastic Slughorn, who was again going on about various members of his 'Club'.

There were a number of whispers among the students when Severus leaned down to kiss Dinah but the DADA Professor didn't seem to care that there were students witnessing it this time around. That had been the point Lucy had failed to make a month ago. Kissing in public didn't make one strong or weak. It just meant you didn't care who saw you kissing the one you loved.

After the meal was over and the students trickled out of the Hall to pack for their return journey home Lucy made her way over to her friends. "Congratulations," she said, nodding at Severus.

"Yes, thank you," he replied amiably. "I trust the second place of Ravenclaw pleases you?"

"Yes," Lucy nodded, "I don't think we ever got higher than third the whole time I was here." She fell silent for a few moments, looking down at her shoes and chewing on her lip. "I feel like I'm leaving Tonks to go home for the summer again," she said, looking up and slightly teary, "I hated it every time. I'm glad we're friends. I'm glad I didn't have to go through this year alone. Sirius would have…he did and does want to help but he couldn't be here all the time. I knew that going in. I just didn't expect it to be so hard. So…thanks," she finished feeling a little silly for being so emotional but it was part of who she was. They weren't leaving for another two days but once again her mouth had run away with her.

"Aw, Lucy," Dinah said, looking touched at Lucy's words, "You're so welcome. Thank you, too. I mean, having you here to talk to and having both you and Sirius on my side with the whole parselmouth thing means so much to me. We've both enjoyed your friendship this year," she said, looking at Severus who shrugged and gave a brief nod. "Are you going back to Hogsmeade between today and Monday's morning's last staff meeting?"

Lucy shook her head, "No, I don't think so. Sirius is probably going to come here to help pack. I'll leave some stuff here though. There's no sense in hauling it back and forth all the time. We've decided to stay at Hogsmeade House most of the summer…oh! You guys should come visit! Or maybe we should visit you. I don't know but we should definitely visit," she suggested, regaining her enthusiasm.

"I'd like that," Dinah agreed; "We'll have to figure something out. You're welcome at our place anytime, definitely. After all, the summer is such an easy-going time. A little bit of planning for next school year, and I'll be spending some time analyzing those surveys, but no work work, you know?" she smiled.

"Yeah," Lucy nodded, "Just lots of wedding planning. I want to try and get as much done as I can before school starts back up. We're headed to the Lupins' Tuesday. It's been awhile since we've seen them and I'll get to play with Teddy. Not too much longer and I'll have another cuddle buddy."

"Oh yes, when is Tonks due?"

"In about a month. Though I'm not sure if Remus's…condition affects that any," Lucy said, considering that.

"It shouldn't," Severus said. "Especially if it didn't the first time."

Lucy nodded, "That's the theory. Unfortunately there just isn't much known about werewolves and their offspring. It'd be an interesting study, but I doubt Remus would let his family be inspected like that…not that I blame him I wouldn't want it done to my family either. Perhaps Sirius and I should try making up some wolfsbane potion for him. I think he'd appreciate it. We're dab hands at making potions, though Sirius doesn't really have the patience for it and I'll admit it wasn't my favorite subject in school…"

"No!" Severus, stoic up until now, suddenly became animated; "Are you mad? You and Sirius are _not_ attempting to make a wolfsbane potion. You'll likely blow yourselves up. Do you have any idea how complicated that potion is? If you and Sirius could concoct it Remus would be making it _himself_; he was as talented at potions as either of you, and certainly better than Sirius. But did you think of that? No. The last thing I need is you two lousing up such a delicate brew. If you simply _must_ have a wolfsbane potion, _I_ will make it!"

Dinah was smiling from ear to ear and Lucy tried to hold back a grin herself. "Thank you for the offer Severus. I almost feel like I should be insulted at the implication I'm not capable of making such a potion though. I'll admit you're better equipped for it but I _was_ an Auror. They don't let you do that if you're a slouch at potions."

"If you were talking about a boil-curing potion, then fine, but not wolfsbane," Severus said, firmly. "Again, I ask you why Remus does not simply make it himself. I think you know the answer."

"All right," Lucy conceded, "If you don't want us making the potion I promise we won't. I'm sure you could make a much more effective brew than either of us could anyway," she said, starting to walking back towards her rooms alongside the couple.

"Good. There is a great difference between simply being good at potions and making it your career." Severus sighed, "I'm surprised you didn't think to at least ask Slughorn."

Lucy rolled her eyes at that suggestion.

"Or Eugene," Dinah agreed. That was more viable than Slughorn but she didn't know Eugene very well and she wasn't about to be telling people about Remus's furry little problem without his permission.

"Not Eugene!" Severus snarled, animated again.

Dinah laughed, patting his arm; "Oh, yes, I forget he's your new arch-nemesis now. Well, since you and Sirius get along you _did_ need a replacement. You don't strike me as the type of person who can survive without at least _one_ arch-nemesis," she grinned.

"Probably," he grumbled agreement.

"Believe it or not I tend to forget Eugene's talent at potions. As for Slughorn…well, he hasn't stopped quizzing me about the Blacks since January. I really don't want to listen to him go on and on about werewolves and his views on them and what he thinks of trying to integrate them with society and anything else that happens to come up in regards to werewolves. I'm afraid there's a little more reason to people's fear of….those of Remus's type than there was of people who speak Parseltongue." It was unfortunate but to the best of her knowledge werewolves like Remus were far less common than those like Fenrir Greyback.

"Unfortunately, though the main thing is that it is not their _fault_ and were they given a chance from the beginning I am sure far less of them would go bad. Well, it's _true_," she added, laughing when Severus rolled his eyes at her.

"Perhaps," he agreed amiably, turning to Lucy; "When do you want the potion?"

"Um, well we're planning on going there Monday night or Tuesday morning…probably again whenever Tonks has the baby but that probably doesn't matter to you. I'm not sure how long it takes to make the potion, so…whenever you have it ready I guess. I mean we can generally pop over to the Lupins whenever so we're not under a time constraint really."

Severus rolled his eyes; "Planning to brew it before you even knew how long it would take, indeed. As it so happens, I can have it to you by Monday."

Lucy felt like stomping her foot, but refrained from the childish gesture, "It was just an _idea_, but thank you. I'll be sure to tell Remus you were so concerned about him and offered to make the potion," she smiled, teasing him just a bit.

Severus growled and glared at her, "I am making it for _yo_- wait, that sounds just as bad," snarling, he turned on his heel and stomped off ahead of them, his robes billowing behind him.

Dinah giggled; "Nice one, Lucy. You've gone and flustered him out of all reasonable retorts. Next, you should offer to help him brew the potion," she suggested.

"Infuriating man," Lucy muttered under breath and turned to Dinah, grinning, "Perhaps, but I think we'd end up maiming each other."

"Oh, I doubt it, he'd just lecture you again. Oh, and I heard that first part, by the way," she smiled softening her words.

"Sorry," she blushed, stopping outside the door to her rooms, "It is nice though; him making the potion for me, not wanting me to blow myself up and all, Sirius too."

"It's okay. Watch this. Severus!" she ran away, grabbing her husband's arm and pulling him back over to where Lucy stood; "Lucy wants to know if she can just _help_ you brew the potion."

"I do no-" Lucy protested. She had no idea what Dinah was up to but stopped talking when Dinah held out a hand.

Severus glared, but surprised her by saying; "She may watch. You may help."

"Are you serious? I think I've just become the most flattered person that ever walked the face of the earth!"

He smiled a bit; "We've already established your talents. Besides, I don't intend to let you do everything, just small parts."

"Still, wow…"

"He's not Sirius," Lucy said with a straight face. It was a silly joke really but sometimes she couldn't resist.

"He's not?" Dinah asked, confused and looking a little crestfallen.

"Dinah," Severus tapped her shoulder; "Relax. Your friend was simply trying to be…_witty_," he rolled his eyes.

"Witty?"

"If he's Sirius, then who am I engaged to?" Lucy grinned, clarifying things for her horribly confused friend.

"If he's…" Dinah repeated; "Oh, why you!" she swatted at Lucy. "That's not funny!" she laughed.

Lucy giggled, "Sure it was," she sighed, "Well, I guess I'll see you Monday at the meeting then?"

"Unless you want to come watch. You've been officially invited after all," Dinah teased, tugging a little at Severus's arm. "If you're nice he might even let you transport a vial or two."

"Possibly," he grumbled.

"Then I'd best refrain from making a joke about you inviting me to watch," Lucy grinned, "We'll see how much packing I get done tonight and tomorrow. I might make it down there. In your rooms or the potions classroom?"

Dinah laughed, "Severus is the DADA professor now, remember? Besides, the potions classroom has Eugene in it."

"Ah, right. I forgot about Eugene potentially being in the potions classroom. I suppose I'll bid you two a good-night then and I'll head to the waiting arms of my lonely, single bed…and my potentially pregnant cat."

"Well, not a lonely single bed for _too_ much longer," Dinah assured her; "Will Minerva let Sirius move in here?"

"Wonderful," Severus sighed.

"Don't sound so enthused," Lucy teased, "but yes. It'll be a bit weird to do all this in the middle of the year I think, confusing for the students too, but it'll be…I can't even think of a word."

"You'll think of plenty when the day arrives," Dinah assured her, grinning. "Good night."

"Night," Lucy said, blushing and waving as her friends walked down the hall towards their dungeon home.


	83. Chapter 83

Chapter 83

"And that brings us to the subject of appointing a new Head of Gryffindor," Minerva said, addressing the staff during their final meeting of the year. "Obviously as Headmistress I can no longer serve as the Head of House for Gryffindor. Professor Babbling has graciously agreed to take over the position for the time being."

Lucy looked over at the Ancient Runes professor. She hoped the woman would be an adequate replacement for the position.

"I've also put out an advertisement for a new Transfiguration professor but if I'm unable to find someone with the proper qualifications I shall remain teaching that subject," at this her gaze traveled over to Lucy. "Do you think Sirius would be interested in the position? He was, as I remember, quite talented in that area."

"Are you serious, Minerva?" Severus demanded, as Dinah snorted, trying to hide her laughter. Staring at the Headmistress Severus continued; "Sirius Black as a Hogwarts professor? Surely you can't be entertaining such an asinine notion."

"I most certainly am, Severus," Minerva almost scolded him. "The man is quite talented in the field of transfiguration and I believe he'd make an excellent, if unconventional, professor."

"That's all right," Lucy shook her head, "I don't think he'd do it anyway. He's still enjoying being able to come and go as he pleases. If you don't find anyone to take the position and you're willing we could probably…ease him into the position. I think he'd enjoy himself once he started teaching…he just doesn't know he would."

"The _point_ is that the man has never worked a day in his life," Severus said, still glaring at Minerva; "That _must_ be taken into consideration."

"Well," Dinah countered, "Perhaps Lucy's point is valid, then. After all, he might enjoy it if he learns slowly. And everyone should at least be given a chance. He has to start somewhere."

"If I hear one more idealistic word out of your mouth…" Severus turned his glare on his wife.

"I had absolutely no experience when I started teaching," Lucy argued, noticing the other professors were remaining conspicuously quiet. "In fact my sum total of work experience was three years Aurors training and one year of what I'm sure was very minimal work as an Auror. Besides work is a relative term anyway. He's been teaching me to dance all year and he was doing it well enough that I didn't even know he was doing it until I suggested he teach me."

"One year of minimal work is still paid work during which you had to report to a superior – _what_?" Severus demanded as Dinah tapped him on the shoulder.

"Can I say something that's _not_ idealistic?"

"Possibly," he grumbled.

"Okay," she laughed, "He's going to be living here next year, anyway," Dinah logically told Severus; "At least he would have business to attend to while Lucy is teaching, instead of sitting in his room bored or wandering around, possibly annoying you in some way."

"This is not about my personal opinion of him," Severus sighed; "I admit he has a few decent qualities," that made the collective table gasp and he glared around to shut them up; "but his experience is still lacking. But I suppose you might make a point. Still, I am uneasy about this," he told Minerva again.

"This whole discussion is moot anyway since he's _not_ taking the position." Lucy blushed, realizing that her statement sounded as if she was making the decision for him. "I'll be very surprised if he accepted it anyway. He'll have to find something to do when he moves in here, even if it's not teaching. He doesn't take well to being confined too long."

"Well," Minerva said, gently smiling, "we'll have until December to figure out something for him to do."

Lucy blushed as everyone's gaze came to rest on her. "Yes, we will."

"Now," Minerva said, switching subjects, "I'm sure you're all excited that we will once again be hosting the Triwizard Tournament. It will run very similar to the last time. Like Hogwarts Durmstrang will have a new Headmaster but we're all hopeful things will run smoothly this time. There are still some details to be worked out but both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons seem willing enough to participate. Yes, Horace?"

Slughorn had raised his hand, practically bouncing in his seat like an excited child. He lowered it to point at Eugene sitting next to him. "Eugene can help us out with Durmstrang! Knows the new headmaster, a teacher from his school days. Help relations run smoothly and all that."

"Wonderful," Minerva said, eyeing Trelawney and Severus. The Divinations professor had scooted as far away from Severus as she could, practically sitting in Professor Binns's seat. "I'm sure that will help ease any tensions Horace. The Ministry will be devising the three tasks for the champions and though I expect them to be similar to the last Tournaments I cannot guarantee that. I can only hope that this year we have no slip-ups."

The meeting was finished after everyone agreed to help with the Tournament details. Lucy watched as Severus led Dinah over, holding out a large bottle to her; "Here. Since you did not come to… _watch_," his lip curled slightly at the infamous word, "I am giving this to you now. There is enough in there for five months, effectively taking care of the summer."

"Thank you," Lucy said, "I'm sure it will be much appreciated. I got caught up trying to pack some of those books you were looking at in the library just before Valentine's Day. I kept trying to box them up and a couple of them kept bursting right out, and of course they were the ones that needed to go on the bottom due to their odd shapes and sizes."

Dinah laughed, as Severus sighed, covering his face with his hand and shaking his head, "Fine. Thank you for the information. Well, at least you've made use of them. I thought you might."

Lucy rolled her eyes, laughing quietly at Severus, "We do do other things you know." It was fun being able to banter like this with friends. "Of course if you'd like to borrow them…" she waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"NO!" Severus shouted, and then flushed as Dinah covered his mouth with her hand. Some of the other staff were still hanging about and gave the threesome rather odd looks.

Dinah grinned; "He doesn't need them, Lucy, but thank you. Not that you need them either," she was quick to explain, "but I don't think they're Severus's form of entertainment any more than they're his research materials."

Lucy grinned, "I was just teasing. I didn't really think he'd take them. Even Sirius refuses to read them, so I would have been surprised if Severus _had_ wanted the books."

"He knows you're teasing," Dinah finally released her husband's mouth so he could speak again.

Severus sighed; "Yes." He turned to Dinah; "We should go. There is no more need to stay here."

"Ah. Yes," she turned back to Lucy; "Well…"

True to her character, Lucy started tearing up a bit, "Have a good summer," she murmured before launching herself at Dinah and hugging her friend, "Don't forget to write…and visit."

"Of course not," Dinah hugged her back just as tightly; "I'll definitely write. We can come up with a time to get together, for sure."

"Yes," Lucy nodded, "even if I have to put Snuffles on a leash for it. Well…I had my boxes sent along this morning so I guess this is goodbye." She sniffled a little. It really _was_ like she was leaving Tonks at the station to go spend the summer with her father. She'd felt just as sad then, not wanting to say goodbye but doing it anyway.

"Thanks for everything," Dinah said.

"You're welcome," she wiped at her eyes, "Oh, this is silly. It's not as if we're never going to see each other again." She turned with watery eyes to Severus and held out her hand, "Severus, thanks for not…blowing up Sirius." She gave him a significant look, hoping he would realize she was talking about more than just her fiancé.

Severus extended his hand to her; "I would not… blow up Sirius without your permission, Lucy."

"Her permission?" Dinah asked sounding confused. That wasn't surprising since she had no idea what they were talking about. "Why would she give you permission to-"

"Hush," he placed a kiss on her temple, "I was simply messing with her as she always insists upon messing with me," he explained.

"I see. Okay, then," she said, thankfully letting the subject drop.

"Have a good summer, Lucy," Severus told her, sounding as if he meant it.

"You too…bye," she waved as she walked out the door, heading for her broom and Sirius.

* * *

When she arrived at Hogsmeade House, Sirius was standing in the doorway waiting for her. As soon as she touched down, Lucy flung herself at him.

"Hey," Sirius said as he wrapped his arms around her, "What's wrong?"

"I hate saying goodbye," she cried into his shoulder.

He chuckled and rubbed her back, "I know, but you'll see them in the fall when school starts back up again."

"Maybe sooner," Lucy said, stepping inside where Dora was already curled up in her favorite chair, "We're going to visit them…or they're going to visit us. We haven't really decided yet. Speaking of school though…Minerva was wondering if you'd be interested in the position of Transfiguration professor?"

Lucy laughed at the expression on his face. It was probably a good thing that Severus and Sirius couldn't see each other's faces at the thought. They were nearly identical.

"Has she lost her mind? Me? A professor? In charge of children?"

She decided to ignore the fact that he _would_ be in charge of children at some point in the future. "I told her you wouldn't want it, but she does think you're quite talented. Even Severus admitted you have some going points. He was quite adamant that you not take the position though."

"Hmmm," he said, making a show of thinking, "That almost makes me want to take the job, just to mess with him."

Lucy giggled. He had away of making her laugh when she was sad. "Don't torture him too much okay?"

"Oookay," he said, ruffling her hair. "Ready to go to the Lupins?"

"Yes!" Lucy said, excited, "Are you sure they-" she was cut off when Sirius apparated them to their destination without warning. "I wish you'd quit doing that!"

"Shhh," he hushed her, "Teddy might me napping."

"Aww," Lucy said, looking around the room and noting the cot and rocking chair. She tiptoed over to the cot and peeked over the side. Inside was her favorite little boy, sleeping. "Aw, hi, baby," she whispered.

"Let him sleep," Sirius whispered in her ear, "Let's see if we can find his parents."

"All right," Lucy said, still a little starry-eyed from watching Teddy sleep.

They snuck back across the room and slowly opened the door, trying their best to keep from waking the little boy. The sight that greeted them though kept that plan from being a success. Remus, hair still wet from a shower, was walking naked down the hall.

Lucy's screech and Remus's shout brought Tonks out from behind another door and Sirius's hand up in front of her eyes.

"Remus, I'd appreciate it if you put that away and stop scaring my fiancée," Sirius said, still blocking Lucy's view with his hand, not that she really wanted to look anyway.

She didn't hear Remus's response but a door clicked shut and Sirius lowered his hand. The hallway was now only occupied by Sirius, Lucy and Tonks, who was adjusting her robes. Teddy, surprisingly, hadn't started screaming at the sudden noise.

"It's nice to see both of you," Tonks said, "but weren't you supposed to come in an hour?"

Lucy felt her face start to flame, "I wasn't given much of a choice."


	84. Chapter 84

Chapter 84

"Remus," Lucy said later, standing when Teddy was no longer interested in playing with her, "I've got something for you. Hopefully it'll make up for that earlier incident." She went over to her bag that Sirius had had to go back and get. He'd forgotten their overnight bags in his haste to visit their friends. Reaching inside she pulled out the large container of wolfsbane potion.

She handed the slightly smoking potion to the other man, both their faces still a little red after their encounter.

"Wolfsbane," he said, lifting his eyes to look up at her, "Where did you get this?"

"Well," she said, smiling, "I just casually mentioned to Dinah and Severus that we were coming to visit and I was thinking of attempting to make it with Sirius. Not forgetting to say that Sirius has no patience for such a thing and that Potions wasn't my favorite subject…Needless to say he objected to the idea and made the potion. He did want it to be clear though that he didn't make the potion for you. I'm not sure who he made if for since he wouldn't come out and say he did it for me but," she shrugged, "He said there's enough for five months."

"That's…" Remus almost looked overwhelmed, "much appreciated."

"Dinah helped him make it; so you can be sure it's safe."

"Thank him for me, will you?" Remus asked.

"Of course," she assured him, going over to sit by Tonks. "You, my dear," she said to her friend, "seem to have exploded overnight."

"I know," Tonks grumbled, "It's horrible."

"Oh, it is not," Lucy said with the ignorance of someone who'd never been pregnant, "It's wonderful."

"No," Tonks insisted, "It's hot and uncomfortable and the baby kicks all night," she grabbed Lucy's hand and placed it on her large stomach, "See?"

"Oh!" she said, as she felt tiny little flutter kicks against her hand, "Sirius you've got to feel this!"

"No, no," he said from over by Remus, "That's okay."

"Baby," Lucy teased him. "So, we've got something to ask the pair of you. We've talked and we want you both to be in the wedding party."

"As long as I'm not still as big as a house," Tonks teased, looking a little happier now than she'd been a moment ago.

"I wouldn't miss it," Remus said, "As long as it doesn't fall on a full moon that is."

"It doesn't," Sirius assured him, "I checked."

Lucy grinned; her wedding was slowly coming together.

* * *

"Remus?" Lucy asked the next day, "Do you think I could have a private word with you?" She knew Sirius and Tonks were staring at them. Tonks probably thinking Lucy wanted to talk about what her father had done, and Sirius…well, she wasn't sure what Sirius was thinking but it didn't matter right then.

"If you'd like, though I wonder what you could want to talk to me about that you couldn't with Tonks or Sirius," he said, eyeing her as if trying to prod her into talking about things she didn't want anyone to know about.

Lucy shook her head. She should have known he would think she wanted to remind him not to tell about what her father had done. He couldn't know what she wanted to ask. "It's not that. I just thought it would be easier…I had some questions is all. I already asked Severus, but I want to know what you thought too."

"Ask me anything," Remus responded, "If you'd like to go somewhere private I don't object."

"Here's fine," Lucy said, having changed her mind about doing this in private. "I get why you believed Sirius capable of murdering Peter; what I don't understand is why, having known him since you were eleven, you could believe he'd betray his best friend to Voldemort."

The other two occupants of the room silently stared at them. Tonks had rubbed a hand over her belly and Sirius reached up to play with a piece of her hair. "My Lucy, always trying to understand things. You don't have to defend me to Remus. You didn't have to defend me to Severus either."

"I know," she said, turning to look at her fiancé. "I'm not…okay maybe I am," she admitted at a look from Sirius, "but really, I mostly just want to know."

"Well," Remus said, hesitating, "there was no one else to think…what I mean to say is everyone who knew about the _fidelius _charm believed Sirius to be the secret keeper. I think you can understand why he would be the main suspect in that case."

"I'm not saying I don't understand the suspicion. It's the belief that he would actually do that that I don't get," Lucy insisted.

"Lucy, it doesn't matter," Sirius said.

"Yes, it does. I want to know why one of your best friends could believe you'd do that. I'm not mad I just want to know. Sometimes the reasons are easily explained or there aren't really words to describe it but I still want to know if Remus can tell me."

"In truth I don't know," Remus continued, "I suppose since it was easy enough to believe him capable of killing Peter that it wasn't much of a stretch for him to be a Death Eater. Looking back I can see where I was in error, but Lucy you weren't seeing the same world we saw then. It was a world where you simply _didn't_ know if your friend was going to be Voldemort's next victim or his next servant. Perhaps I shouldn't have believed the things written in the _Daily Prophet_, but I did and it's something I regret, but it wouldn't have changed anything. Sirius still would have been imprisoned."

"Peter was smart enough to manipulate everything to make it look like I was guilty," Sirius interrupted, "I handed him a golden opportunity when I insisted James and Lily make him secret-keeper over me. I guess it's partially our fault for still seeing him as the same as he was in school. Untalented, but loyal. We didn't realize how weak-willed and selfish he was. He was cunning enough to have been a Slytherin."

"Now that's an insult to Slytherins," Tonks said, exhibiting some of the fairness her House was known for.

"Hufflepuff," Sirius said, almost making it sound like an insult, though Lucy knew Tonks was just about his favorite relative.

Tonks just snorted and threw one of the olives she'd been eating at him.

Lucy rolled her eyes. Maybe all the Blacks were children and not just her fiancé.


	85. Chapter 85

Chapter 85

"Sirius! Get up! Get up!" Lucy said, smacking him late the morning after they'd returned to Hogsmeade House. "Aunt Molly, Ginny and Hermione are going to be here soon!"

"So?" he asked, grumpy. In retaliation for her hitting him, Sirius pulled the blankets up over his head, burying himself.

"So? They can't see you coming out all sleepy and…and stinky and…."

"And looking like I just spent the whole night making love to you?" he finished, pushing the blankets back down and grinning at her.

"Exactly!" Lucy squealed, trying not to look as panicked as she felt. "I've already _Scourgified _the room so it's fine but you are a complete mess."

"All right," he said, slowly sitting up.

He wasn't moving nearly fast enough for Lucy's peace of mind but that didn't stop her from taking a moment to admire his bare backside when he climbed out of bed. She snapped out of her stupor though when he reached for the door, not having grabbed so much as a towel to cover himself with. "Not like that! You don't want them to find you naked in the hall either! Remember the incident with Remus?"

Sirius chuckled and rolled his eyes, "Yes, it wasn't that shocking. I've seen him naked before you know. We shared a dorm," he added when she looked confused.

"Yeah, well, _I_ had no intentions of ever seeing him naked and I don't think Molly would be thrilled if the three of them got a view of you. Take a towel!" she said, flinging one at him.

"Whatever you say dear," he said, grinning as he wrapped the towel around his waist and headed for the shower.

* * *

Lucy was far less panicky when Molly and the girls arrived. Sirius was showered, dressed, and hopefully behaved when they knocked on the door.

"How was your first year teaching dear?" Molly asked when they were all seated in the living room.

"Fine for the most part. I mean you know about everything that wasn't fine already. The wedding was great and -"

"The _wedding_?" Ginny asked, her eyes going wide. "I thought we came here to help you pick out a wedding dress?"

"Um, well…I'm not sure if you guys are supposed to know. I mean you're not students anymore…"

"Just tell them, Lu," Sirius sighed, "You've already let it slip."

"All right. I suppose it's just a matter of time anyway. Molly already knows and if Ron and Harry haven't told the two of you yet it's bound to happen sooner or later."

"Oh," Ginny said, "You mean Professor Snape marrying Professor Samson? Yeah, we know about that. I thought it was going to be something more shocking. Like Filch and Madam Pince got married or something."

Lucy shuddered at the thought, "Ew, no."

"Well, if you ladies don't mind I think I'm off to visit my godson and see if he's willing to be my best man," Sirius said, rising from a chair.

"He'd better be," she said, looking up to receive his light kiss, "since Ginny's going to be a bridesmaid."

"I am?" Ginny said, looking shocked and excited.

"Of course! You're family," Lucy told her as Sirius closed the front door.

"But what about Tonks and Professor Samson and…" her cousin looked over at Hermione.

"I didn't expect to be asked," Hermione assured her.

"Tonks has already been asked and I'd love to have Dinah and Hermione stand up with me but Sirius only wants Remus and Harry so…" They'd had this conversation already and Sirius knew how she felt but he was really only close to the two men and no one else. Lucy knew why he didn't feel right asking anyone else but she really wanted Dinah and Hermione as part of her bridal party.

"Well," Aunt Molly said, standing up, "Lucy, why don't you fetch your Mum's tiara and if you've got shoes already picked out you should bring those too. They'll help with choosing a style and if you end up finding something today they'll have to measure the length."

Lucy grabbed the items and when she came back into the living room Ginny and Hermione surrounded her.

"Oh, Lucy it's beautiful," Hermione said of her mother's tiara. It was a smaller headpiece, but it fit Lucy perfectly. There were a few scattered ivory flowers, surrounded by pearls and diamonds. The tiara wasn't overly showy and Lucy loved it.

Molly looked a little unconvinced about Lucy's blue pumps but didn't say anything.

"They're my something blue and no one will see them under the dress anyway. Aren't they gorgeous?"

Molly looked at Lucy's face and her own expression softened, "They're wonderful dear. Now let's go."

* * *

"No," Molly shook her head, vetoing the replica of the dress Lucy had picked out in Diagon Alley. "It's a lovely dress, but Lucy you're going to be pulling at the collar all night. Maybe if it was more of a jacket and you could take it off…"

Lucy was disappointed. She'd had the same thoughts in the back of her mind but she really liked this dress. She'd tried on lace ones, embroidered ones, ones with lots of sparkles and beading, and none had been as nearly close to right as this one.

"Why don't you go change and we can talk some more?" offered the shopkeeper, Nerissa. "I can sketch something out and I could possibly make it for you or I can see if your vision matches any of the dresses here."

"All right," Lucy nodded, stepping down off the pedestal and going back into the dressing room. When she reemerged in her normal daytime robes everyone was gathered on the chairs Nerissa had offered them looking over a sketch pad in the shopkeeper's hands.

"Ah, we've saved a seat for you right here," Nerissa said, patting the seat beside her. "Now, I believe you said you were planning on an outdoor wedding in December?"

"Yes," Lucy said.

"You'll definitely need a jacket then. How about something like this?" Nerissa sketched out a quick design of a fur-lined, belted jacket with a similar neckline and sleeves of the dress she'd just taken off. "Embroidery?" she asked.

"Not too much," Lucy told her, in love with the jacket already.

Nerissa, taking inspiration from the tiara Lucy was still wearing, expertly drew some delicate flowers on the jacket, some of the stems wound themselves into love knots. "The love knots are for luck. A lot of brides incorporate them into their dress. I think they're lovely and go well with the flowers, but if you don't like them I can take them out."

"No," Lucy breathed, "I love it. Just like that."

"Thank you," Nerissa beamed, "Now how about that dress? You seemed to like the lace ones and we can incorporate some lace around the bodice. How do you feel about strapless? An A-line skirt? Maybe a little embroidery around the hem to match the design on the jacket?"

As she talked, Nerissa sketched and the dress that emerged next to the jacket was just as breathtaking. It wasn't what she had thought she wanted but it included all the things she'd loved in the other dresses. "Yes. Aunt Molly, that's it. That's it, isn't it?"

"I think so," she said, running her hand down Lucy's arm, "You'll look radiant."

"Wonderful," Nerissa smiled, "We'll get you measured up and then fit your cousin here for her dress. You wanted one dress in maroon with a gold sash and another in dark blue with a bronze sash?"

"Yes," Lucy confirmed, thrilled that the pieces were falling into place.


	86. Chapter 86

Chapter 86

_Dear Lucy,_

_How is your summer so far? My summer has been absolutely wonderful! Severus and I are now legally married in both worlds and could not be happier for it. Things have slowed down due to the summer holiday but we are both keeping busy, him with his various potions projects and me with the Muggle-born post-year surveys. But we always find lots of time to relax together and enjoy life as newlyweds. It will be so much fun when you and Sirius are married and he moves into Hogwarts and we can all be newlyweds together! At least, I think it will be fun, I'm not sure about Severus, though. You know how my silly husband can be. But I'll make sure he has fun whether he likes it or not!_

_All joking aside, I have some wonderful news! I purchased my snake yesterday. I'm so thrilled to finally be able to keep one as a pet and you and Sirius both played big parts in helping me to reach this point. So thanks so much for your understanding about the parselmouth issue. I'll never be able to fully express how grateful I am for that._

_The snake is a male and I have named him Slinky. He is a black, brown, grey, and yellow corn snake and we get along very well so far. I'm hoping to start practicing control of my abilities with him and he is perfectly happy to help me out with it. I bought him a_ huge_ cage so he loves all the space. I do think Severus is getting a little jealous, though, since I'm talking to Slinky so much. Well, tonight I will make sure his clothes are so organized he won't be able to feel neglected ever again! Just a little too much information for you in return for all the times you gave it to me. After all, isn't that what friends are for?_

_Well, I hope you are having a perfectly wonderful summer and you are welcome to come visit at any time, as long as you owl in advance. I really hope we can find a time to get together before school starts up, as I really miss chatting with you and I_ know_ Godric definitely misses Dora!_

_Say hello to Sirius and Dora for me and Severus says hello as well. We wish you all the best and hope to talk to you both again very soon._

_Love, Dinah_

"Sirius!" Lucy shouted, excited. "It's a letter from Dinah. Here look!" She shoved the letter into his hands so he could read it for himself.

Sirius smirked, "Too much information. She's right you know."

"Oh, hush," she laughed, "It's not as if I haven't over-shared too. Dinah even said so. I have to write her back!"

"Right now?" Sirius questioned. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her shoulder, clearly intent upon doing something else.

"Well, maybe tomorrow…" Lucy admitted, her hands sliding into his hair and gripping it. Before Sirius she'd never thought she liked long hair on men, but on him…She liked feeling his hair trail over her skin as much as he liked feeling her hair skim his. Besides, Sirius always kept his hair shorter than Lucy's anyway.

* * *

_Dear Dinah,_

_I'm so glad your summer's going well! Ours is going well so far. Aunt Molly came to visit a couple days ago and brought Ginny and Hermione. We went to a local shop to try on some wedding dresses. It was so much fun and I'm glad I waited for Molly before making a final decision. It makes me feel much better about the whole thing._

_A couple new shops have opened up in town and we've been exploring those some. Gee, that probably sounds so boring, but it's not that bad really. I'm glad you've been able to finally buy your snake! And really we were happy to help. You've helped us so much and like you we could never express our thanks. There just aren't any words…and coming from a Literature Professor that's got to be saying something._

_That bit about too much information had me laughing out loud. Do you really want to get into a contest over that? I could tell you about various locations and techniques but I'll refrain in case Severus is leaning over your shoulder reading this. His favorite troublemaker says 'hi' by the way. _

_We _will_ get together over the summer! I'm determined. At the very least I'll need help with some of this wedding stuff! Sirius does help but really a man can only do so much right? _

_Also Dora misses Godric too, and we aren't expecting kittens. Maybe at some point. I actually think their kittens would be pretty stinking cute and wouldn't mind them at all. Well, maybe a little since kittens can keep one up all night and leave little presents around before they learn about litter boxes and all that._

_Hope all is well!_

_Love, Lucy_

* * *

_Dear Lucy,_

_I was so excited when I received your reply! Your summer sounds very exciting what with all of the wedding plans. I hope you find or have found a wonderful dress that suits you. I know how crazy it can be and I also know that you have a lot more to plan than I ever did. I hope you're having fun with it, though. And yes, if we left it up to the men _nothing_ would get done! We girls have to stick together, right? Whenever we find a time to get together, I would love to brainstorm with you. I'll help all I can._

_New shops in Hogsmeade, huh? No, that doesn't sound boring it sounds like fun. I love exploring new stores and seeing what they carry, and Hogsmeade is such a nice little town. It must be nice living there._

_Severus and I were happy to help you last year. I was just thinking after I sent my letter off to you that it was so nice that I met you and that we could all become friends. Our friendship means a lot to me and again, I don't think there are any words to describe how much. Oh, look at the couple of saps we're turning into, Lucy! Let's change the subject or else we could probably go on forever!_

_Things here are going just as well as always. Severus and I entertained some of my other Muggle friends recently and had fun – well, sort of fun, you know Severus – making up all sorts of stories about our adventures studying the aborigines in New Zealand. Truthfully, I hate making up stories like that and not being able to tell my friends the truth, but I guess I should just be grateful I could at least let Rosa and Luke in on the secret._

_Incidentally, Severus was looking over my shoulder when I read your most recent letter, and as soon as he read that part he looked at me and said: 'Exactly _what_ did you tell her in your letter?' And I'm sure you can guess his tone of voice while saying it. Oh, it was so funny! You should have seen the look on his face! Either way, no I wasn't really trying to get involved in a contest as I'm sure you've guessed. That was just a friendly, one-time favor return. Though who knows what crazy things we'll end up saying without thinking next year. We've both been known to do it, after all._

_Kittens would be nice. Still working on Severus on the keeping one part. We'll see. He and Godric actually get along really well, so I think he'd be more open to the idea than he likes to pretend. _

_Hope we can get together soon! Let me know what your plans are for the next month or so and we can try to find a time and place. Severus and I are pretty much free whenever._

_Love, Dinah_

* * *

Two weeks later Nerissa had a good start on the dress, the invitations were nearly done and Lucy snuck out of bed at what Sirius would consider the ungodly hour of seven o'clock. She tiptoed down to the kitchen, leaving Dora curled up in bed with her favorite person, to start a pot of coffee and make herself some porridge.

The food, which she normally liked, began smelling so strong she could hardly stand it. Opening the window seemed to help though and she sat down at the table to write a response to Dinah's recent letter. She'd gotten down a 'Dear Dinah,' and two spoonfuls of porridge before having to rush off to the bathroom.

After emptying the admittedly meager contents of her stomach, Lucy sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. She must have caught some sort of bug. They'd been going out a lot lately so she could have gotten the illness from anywhere. Legs still shaking she stood up, rinsed her mouth and splashed cold water on her face before going back out into the kitchen. The intention was to throw out the food and dump her coffee but she couldn't stand the site of either of them; it was worse than having to endure the smell.

She pushed her discarded meal aside...to the other end of the table in fact, and continued with the letter to Dinah.

_Dear Dinah,_

_How would you and Severus like to come visit in a week or two? Tonks is due to have the baby near the end of the month and I'd like to stay close to home just in case. I hope you understand. We'd love to visit you guys at some point. Things have just been so hectic here with wedding preparations and everything. Did I tell you in my last letter I'm having my dress made? It's simply gorgeous! I can't wait for you to see it._

_Have you ever spent a summer in Hogsmeade? It's so different than when Hogwarts is in. I know I spent weekends here before when there weren't any students but it's just so quiet and peaceful. It's nice. That reminds me…Harry and Ron have taken up residence in Grimmauld Place. It's only temporary and I'm guessing the place isn't going to be as kept up as when we were there but it's better than having it sit empty. Besides it's probably better that they're out of Aunt Molly's_

She looked up when Sirius walked into the kitchen, not finishing her sentence.

"So this is where you've gotten off too?"

Lucy looked up and smiled, "It's not even eight. I haven't wandered anywhere. I was just writing Dinah a letter. Seeing if she and Severus would like to come here in a couple weeks."

"Mmm," Sirius murmured, strolling to the other end of the table and inspecting her discarded food. "Not hungry?" he asked, lifting the spoon and letting the porridge drip back into the bowl before replacing the utensil.

"No," Lucy shook her head, "I'm not feeling well this morning. It's probably just a little bug. It'll pass soon I'm sure."

* * *

Two days later it still hadn't passed. Lucy was mystified. It only seemed to be striking in the morning and a couple hours after she threw up she felt fine for the rest of the day. If Sirius knew she was still feeling ill he'd insist on taking her to St. Mungo's and there was no way she was stepping foot in there if she could help it. No, she'd just have to get through this and keep it from Sirius if she could.

As she thought back though, she realized she was at least a week late. That episode on the counter with the spaghetti…it was possible the protection spell had worn off by then.

* * *

"Do we have any apples?" Lucy called from the kitchen.

"We should," Sirius said, shuffling the pages of the _Daily Prophet_ after turning the page, "I just bought a dozen two days ago."

"Well, they're gone," his fiancée informed him, coming to stand in the entryway to the kitchen.

"And I suppose you'd like me to go get some more?" he said, looking up at Lucy. He loved her but he was starting to get…concerned or annoyed, he wasn't sure which. Either way twelve apples in two days was pushing it he thought. Sirius hadn't eaten a single one of those apples.

"Please?" she asked, looking hopeful.

He sighed. He couldn't tell her no. She made him so happy and somewhere, deep down, he still felt a little guilty for causing her so much pain when he'd died. "All right," he stood up, setting the paper aside, "Maybe I should just plant a couple apple trees in the back yard."

"Perhaps," Lucy said, wrapping her arms around him, "it'll probably be awhile until they bear fruit though so I'd really appreciate it if you go get the apples."

"Yes, dear," he said, leaning down to kiss her, "I'll be back in a minute."

"Get lots," she ordered, "Dinah and Severus are going to be here in a couple days. They might want some too."

"A whole bushel," he said, seriously considering actually getting one. Maybe two.

* * *

A/N: For a look at Dinah and Severus's visit to Hogsmeade House please head on over to "Summer at Hogsmeade". It's a short story written by both me and animalwriter and can be found on my profile page. Hope you like it and please review!


	87. Chapter 87

Chapter 87

Dinah and Severus had only left two hours ago, after visiting Lucy and Sirius for three days, when an owl landed on the arm of the couch. "Sirius!" she shouted, jumping up off the couch, "Tonks has had the baby!"

"What did she have?" he asked, sounding interested but not nearly as excited as Lucy was.

"It doesn't say," Lucy shook her head, frustrated at the lack of information. "Remus wrote the note. Typical man to not include the details."

"You want to go see them?" Sirius asked, standing up and smiling.

"Yes! It's just that…well…" Lucy hesitated, "She's in St. Mungo's." She _did_ want to see Tonks and the baby but she didn't want to go anywhere near that hospital; though now that Sirius knew about her time there maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He would be with her, supporting her, protecting her.

Moments later they stood in the lobby of the dreaded wizarding hospital. Well, Lucy was probably the only one who dreaded coming here. Her eyes were about ready to spill some tears and she looked up at her fiancé. "Don't tell them about the baby. Today should be about them." She still wasn't used to the idea of being pregnant; at least she wasn't alone in it, Dinah was pregnant too.

Sirius nodded, watching her face, "All right. Did you want to get a check-up while we're here?"

"No," she shook her head, still keeping the tears from falling, "I – oh! There's Remus."

Remus looked tired as he usually did, but his robes looked of better quality than they had in the past. A testament to his new job in the Ministry she supposed. "Lucy, Sirius," Remus said in greeting, hugging the pair of them.

"Remus," Sirius said.

"Congratulations," Lucy told the older man. "How did you know we were coming?"

"Tonks was convinced you'd rush here as soon as you got the letter. She wanted me to come down and make sure you were…" Remus trailed off, glancing at Sirius.

"It's okay," she muttered, "He knows about my father sticking me in here for those seven months. I…I told him."

"Good," Remus said, looking satisfied that she'd finally done what he'd been telling her to do for a year, "because Tonks would really like you to come up and see the baby. She doesn't expect you to be, as she said, bright and shiny, but I've been instructed not to give you any details in order to entice you up there."

Lucy squirmed around. Tonks knew her well. She wanted to see and hear all about the baby but this was hard. Her instinct was to run and hide. She couldn't do that to Tonks though, she just couldn't. "Okay," she sighed, the hand encased in Sirius's trembling, "I'll go up. I'll try anyway."

"Good for you," Remus said, "You're not staying and we're not going to leave you alone here."

"Never," Sirius echoed.

She took a shaky breath and let it out when Remus grabbed the hand Sirius wasn't holding and they led her up to the maternity ward where Tonks was surely laying. They hurried past the floor where Lucy had spent over six months of her life and quickly made it up to Tonks's room.

"Hi," Remus said softly, leading them into his wife's room, "Look who's made it."

"Lucy!" Tonks squealed.

She knew she probably looked horrible and miserable and upset, but she was glad she'd made it up there. "Hi," she said, embarrassed.

"Come here," Tonks beckoned, patting the bed beside her.

"The baby?" Lucy asked, sitting next to her friend and trying to peer into the bassinet on the other side of Tonks.

"Good job," the pink-haired woman said to her husband, "You didn't tell her anything." She leaned over the side of the bed and lifted up the tiny little baby into her arms. "Here," Tonks said, handing the precious bundle to Lucy.

"Aw," Lucy said, her expression softening. She almost forgot about where she was and looked up at Sirius, who was looking down at the baby beside her. "I want one," she whispered.

"Someday," he told her, careful not to reveal that 'someday' was sooner rather than later.

"So? What are you? What is your name?" Lucy asked the baby with the sandy-brown hair and Remus's features.

"_Her_ name," Tonks said, "is Anne."

"Oh," Lucy said, on the verge of tears. Anne was her middle name. "Really?"

"Yes," Remus confirmed, "and we were hoping the pair of you would be her Godparents."

"Of course," Lucy answered for them both.

"And don't you dare give my name to any child of yours," Tonks threatened.

Lucy just smiled, considering doing just that. She ran a finger over Anne's cheek, saying, "We've changed the date of the wedding to September 4th. Sirius also managed to find two more groomsmen so Dinah and Hermione can be bridesmaids now."

"Decided against the winter wedding?" Remus asked with his too-perceptive eyes.

"I'm impatient," Sirius said, keeping the real reason a secret like she'd asked.

Tonks snorted, "Like that wasn't obvious."

Lucy nodded, "It'll be less stressful this way. Between the Triwizard Tournament, the Yule Ball, and the two extra schools that will be attending then…I don't want to be worrying about all that while trying to get married."

Tonks was about to respond when a soft knock on the door preceded the entrance of a Healer Lucy recognized. She'd only seen the woman a handful of times, but each time she had been full of pity and concern for 'that poor girl overcome with grief'. That had been when she'd first arrived in St. Mungo's mental ward and refused to talk to anyone around her.

Lucy turned to Tonks, trying to hide her face from the woman. The woman _had_ tried to help her but she'd only succeeded in making Lucy feel like more of a failure. "I'm sorry," she whispered in Tonks's ear, shaking, "I can't…I have to…"

"I understand," she murmured back, taking Anne from Lucy and giving her friend a one-armed hug, "It's okay. I'm glad you came."

Remus rose from the chair he'd been sitting in, while Sirius helped Lucy up off the bed. "I'll walk you out," their werewolf friend offered.

"That's okay, Moony," Sirius said, wrapping his arm around Lucy, "We'll just apparate out of here in the hall."

They quickly said their good-byes and, less than a minute later, were standing back in their Hogsmeade kitchen.

"All right?" he asked, holding her shaking form against him.

Lucy shook her head, her face rubbing against his chest, "I don't want to ever go there again…but I'm glad we went. I wouldn't have wanted to miss seeing Anne."

"I know," he said, rubbing her back, "You did good. I'm proud of you."

She'd done what she'd long thought impossible. Gone back to the place that had imprisoned her for months. Somewhere along the way she'd also come to the realization that it hadn't been St. Mungo's. Her father was the one at fault. She hadn't lied to Sirius. No, Lucy didn't want to go back to the hospital and she still didn't want _anyone_ knowing about this part of her past, but at some point she was going to have to confront Henley about this.

Yet something else she didn't want to do, but with Sirius and her friends beside her, Lucy thought that just maybe she'd get through it. Maybe. Someday. In the future. She'd deal with it then.

* * *

A/N: So that's it for Don't Leave Me. It's a rather bittersweet moment I'll admit. I'm thrilled that I've made it this far but it also means I'm that much closer to finishing. You probably noticed the little cliffhanger I left you guys with. Never fear! It's not something that's going to be left out to dry. I'm working on a sequel, that I _still_ have no title for, but I anticipate having the first chapter up within a week or so. Please keep a look out for it and I hope to see you guys there!


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